When my husband was asked to play the lead role in a play in Chicago years ago, he had one month to memorize his spoken lines, the lyrics to eight songs, and the accompanying musical pieces on guitar.
The play ran for a month and a half, and at the beginning of that run, there were times when he forgot his lines.
He lost the words he needed to speak.
And a beautiful thing would happen. His fellow actors helped to remind him of the forgotten words. They would improvise a line that sparked his memory, and he would then remember. The words would all come flooding back to him.
Many things can cause us to forget what we desperately need to remember, and this usually happens when hard times encroach upon us. Fear, stress, sadness, pain, and anxiety can make our minds go blank. But there is hope.
It is vitally important to work at planting the word of God deep within us. It is a source of strength and guidance, always readily accessible to us, especially in times of need for ourselves or another. The bottom line is that the word of God is not just reliable but powerful enough to speak into every situation of our lives.
We have received from God the gift of the Helper to remember the word. He not only teaches us all things but also reminds us of every word Jesus taught and found in the scriptures. But we must study and meditate on it for the Holy Spirit to remind us of it.
Let’s be the type of people and friends with a ready word in and out of season. We need each other but are only as good to one another as the quality of our intimacy with the word of God, both written and living.
Cuando hace años le pidieron a mi esposo que interpretara el papel principal en una obra de teatro en Chicago, tuvo un mes para memorizar sus líneas habladas, la letra de ocho canciones y las piezas musicales de guitarra que las acompañaban.
La obra duró un mes y medio y, al comienzo de esa ejecución, hubo momentos en que se olvidó de sus líneas.
Perdió las palabras que necesitaba para hablar.
Y algo hermoso sucedería. Sus compañeros actores ayudaron a recordarle las palabras olvidadas. Improvisaban una línea que despertaba su memoria y luego la recordaba. Todas las palabras volverían a él.
Muchas cosas pueden hacer que olvidemos lo que necesitamos recordar desesperadamente, y esto suele ocurrir cuando nos invaden tiempos difíciles. El miedo, el estrés, la tristeza, el dolor y la ansiedad pueden hacer que nuestra mente se quede en blanco. Pero hay esperanza.
Es de vital importancia trabajar para sembrar la palabra de Dios en lo más profundo de nosotros. Es una fuente de fortaleza y guía, siempre fácilmente accesible para nosotros, especialmente en momentos de necesidad para nosotros mismos o para otros. La conclusión es que la palabra de Dios no sólo es confiable sino lo suficientemente poderosa como para hablar en cada situación de nuestras vidas.
Hemos recibido de Dios el don del Consolador para recordar la palabra. Él no solo nos enseña todas las cosas, sino que también nos recuerda cada palabra que Jesús enseñó y encontró en las Escrituras. Pero debemos estudiarlo y meditarlo para que el Espíritu Santo nos lo recuerde.
Seamos el tipo de personas y amigos que tienen una palabra lista dentro y fuera de temporada. Nos necesitamos unos a otros, pero somos tan buenos unos con otros como la calidad de nuestra intimidad con la palabra de Dios, tanto escrita como viva.
Redwoods on a trail along the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway in Northern California. Photo / Merwyn Sanders II (2022)
The adrenaline rush jolted me into an internal frenzy. My heart was palpitating. Suddenly I felt dizzy. I thought for sure I’d faint. I didn’t know if I was having a heart attack or what. As all of this was going through my head, my fingers were typing at the keyboard and I had a client in front of me. I couldn’t take it any longer. I needed to escape. I excused myself and walked as quickly as I could to the office right next to mine. I told my coworker what I was feeling. She said it sounded like I was having an anxiety attack, to sit down, take deep breaths, and that it would pass in a few minutes.
I decided to get a little exercise in by raking a trillion leaves that we clearly didn’t make time for. They were still rather damp from the rains from a few days back, so the raking was more difficult with the added weight.