The all-too-familiar brown cardboard box bearing the Amazon smile logo rested near my front door, greeting me with that grin. Hmm, I wonder what that is? I thought as I picked it up and carried it inside. When I opened it, I found a cookbook I had ordered. I had utterly forgotten about it. Sadly, I had a case of primenesia. According to the online Urban Dictionary, it’s defined as, “Amnesia caused from over-ordering from Amazon. Forgetfulness regarding what one ordered.” Apparently, many others are suffering from primenesia too.
This occurrence of forgetfulness in our culture is not surprising. The human tendency to forget is emphasized throughout the Bible. Many stories are told about God’s people forgetting what He had done for them. The Israelites repeatedly failed to remember how God rescued them from slavery under the Egyptians. At one point, they even wished they could go back to the misery (Numbers 14:1–4). Jesus, too, reminded His disciples not to forget Him. The evening before He died, during the Passover meal, He told them to eat bread that was His body and drink wine that was His blood. And then Jesus gave the famous command, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:14–20).
Jesus gave us the cure for forgetfulness. Remembrance. Remember the promises in God’s Word. Remember Jesus’s sacrifice. Remember to praise Him for all He’s done. Lord, help me to never forget all the good things You do for me.
—Jeannie Blackmer
