Jesus Speaks to Women: SSTML

...but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words. Luke 24: 5b-8

Today's passage has a key word I would like to emphasize:  "remember."  

The ability to remember is a wonderful thing.  It is basically, what allows humans to learn.  If we couldn't remember, there would be no growth...no depth...we would remain as infants, stuck in a mental playpen all of our lives because we would have to re-discover how to climb out of it each day, over and over again.  It's like those silly movies we watch, where the girl (because it is usually a girl, I wonder why?) has lost her short-term memory, and she keeps having to relearn every morning, what is happening in her life since the day of her fateful accident (or in more extreme cases, every minute, like Dory in Nemo!)...anyway...

The thing is, we are not that different from Dory at times.  At least, I am not.  Much like the beloved blue fish in the animated movie, I keep swimming through life, often forgetting important things that are meant to be foundational lessons that should shape my spiritual life!  One minute, I'm reading Scripture: "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46: 10) and the next second I'm fretting and madly rushing because a sudden bump on the road robbed me of any shred of peace those precious words might have instilled in me...sigh...

It's like I do have SSTML: spiritual short term memory loss.  

The women in the passage allowed themselves to be swept by fear at the sight of the unknown men. I mean, it was understandable.  After all, they did get startled by men who appeared suddenly, wearing "clothes that gleamed like lightning." (Luke 24: 4)  I'm still trying to imagine what that might have looked like?  I keep thinking about those crazy fashion shows on TV where overpaid and under-fed models do the catwalk in those high-prized designer outfits with shiny, flowing fabrics and metal pieces contouring their silhouettes.  I digress...

The point is, the women at the tomb suffered from sudden short term memory loss at that moment, and it took the men's words to shake them back to the point when they could, indeed, remember...allowing the memories of Jesus' words to come back to them, as a warm embrace of great comfort in their hour of fear and sorrow.

I don't want to suffer from spiritual short term memory loss, sudden or otherwise.  I want to be able to internalize Scripture in a way that it becomes "a lamp into my feet and a light into my life!" (Psalm 119: 105)  I don't want to forget!  EVER!  I want to remember! ALWAYS!

May the Holy Spirit speak to us in a way that it stays in our minds forever, sustaining us spiritually and physically in this valley of tears, in every high and in every low...until we are in the precious presence of Our Lord! Amen!