MEMORY LANE

My high school has an annual “Annual Breakfast”. It includes each class from 1951 to 1990. It is always so wonderful meeting up with old friends and classmates. We talk about old times and bring each other up-to-current. Sharing memories of the way we were; the things we’ve been through; remembering those who were there, and; the ones that we lost along the way.

Reminiscing brings back all the old memories, and the memories it brings, will take you back all the way back. In reminiscing, you realize that there are some things that you forgot that you knew. Sometimes it may take a word or a phrase to jog your memory. Situations of recollections of your past, sometimes may stimulate happiness or activate sadness.

I was lying in bed the other night and I immediately became sad. The sadness appeared out of nowhere. I was in my happy place, but somehow, it was like Satan had hit a refresh button about a bad memory in high school. Please note, I am not a person to hold a grudge of any kind. I am very slow to get angry and it takes a lot for me to get angry. The Bible warns us about getting angry. Ephesians 4:26-27 says, “Be ye angry, and sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Neither give place to the devil.” Satan is just waiting for us to become angry. He is watching and waiting for the gap to open that is called “grudge”. If there is any way that Satan can help us to hold a grudge, he will do it.

So, there I was lying in bed and all of a sudden a feeling swept over me, and the joy that flooded my heart seemed to have been covered-up with a blanket of anger and begrudge.

I had to cry unto God, because I remembered that cruelty that was done to me like it was yesterday. I knew that love covered a multitude of sins and that love covers all, but this thing was crushing my heart and spirit. It was trying to kick love out of the door.

I immediately went into prayer mold, The Holy Spirit began working on me and gave me the power to forget about that situation. The problem had been suppressed all of those years. Satan had to dig very deep to get those memories. Through the help of God and the Holy Spirit, I mentally dug a grave for that memory. I dug up the earth until I had dug a deep enough hole to satisfy me. I put those feelings in a tight sealed box that looked like a casket and happily lowered that casket full of sorrow, pity, pain, disgust, tears, and shame. Those wounded feelings brought up some very painful emotions, that I couldn’t afford to mentally bear. I quickly dropped that box of feelings into the burial hole and covered it up. I don’t want those ghosts to haunt me anymore. I hauled so much dirt on that hole, that the mound had formed an unusual shape. Once the mound was leveled out, I put the grass neatly back over the mound, so that it would look like that spot was never disturbed. I wanted to make very sure I couldn’t find that hole ever again. Then I threw a single red rose on top of it, like they do at a real burial. I waved goodbye to it and I ran away, like a mad dog was chasing me.

Finally after the burial, the memory faded and God proceeded to heal my wounds, without even the evidence of a scar, that usually shows evidence that a wound was created. Then, finally, I failed into a very peaceful sleep.

The moral of the story is, be careful traveling down memory lane. When you do, please don’t take the detour to “Sad Man’s Boulevard.”