A Non-Memory Memory

I might have problems remembering what someone just said, or the reason I walked into a particular room in our house, but for some reason I can remember events in my life from my very early childhood.

I can remember the layout of the trailer we lived in until I was about three. Actually, I can very vividly remember some things from my first birthday party. Now I don't claim that I knew what it was at the time, but later in life I saw pictures of it, and connected the memories with what they were from. I may even have some memories from earlier. I just don't have anything to connect them to.

My wife used to make fun of how I claim to be able to remember the day I was born. I don't. But the point of what I'm writing is not to impress you with my abnormal long-term memory. To use the words of a famous television detective, "It's a blessing, and a curse."

But rather, something someone said to me after Wednesday night Bible study got me to thinking about something I don't remember.

This person was asking where Martha (i.e., the baby) was. I knew they had gone downstairs to the baby Bible class, so I pointed downstairs and told them where they could find her. Then the person smiled at me with the smile that only someone wiser and more knowledgeable than myself about raising children could have, and said, "Start 'em young!"

That got me to thinking about one thing, that despite my freakish memory, I don't remember. I don't remember the first time I went to Bible class. Really, I don't remember ever not being in Bible class. Obviously the gratitude for that non-existent memory goes to my parents. I pray that Jenaleigh, and whatever other children we may have can say the same thing, and not just because they are forgetful.

Now don't mistake what I'm writing to mean that taking your children to Bible class as infants guarantees anything, or that someone who hasn't done that has scarred their child for life. But on the other hand, however important or unimportant Bible class is to you, it's an opportunity to make a lasting impression on your child. Don't think of that impression lasting years. Think in terms of eternity.

Let me share some good advice that I once heard from someone much older and wiser than myself about children and Bible class: "Start 'em young!"

-Daniel Howell

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." Deuteronomy 6:4-7, NKJV