forgotten

Opening Prayer: O Lord, help me to always remember that I am dust, and to dust I will return.  Help me to know that my days are like grass; I will flourish like a flower of the field and then, one day, the wind will blow over me and I will be gone, and my place will remember me no more.  That will help me to keep everything in proper perspective.  Amen.

Scripture: Psalm 103:15-16

Journal: What do the words of Psalm 103:15-16 do within you?  What do they stir up?  What do they disturb or disrupt?  What do you think about the idea of being forgotten?

Reflection: FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is a very real thing in our day and age.  It drives people to do all sorts of things, often at the expense of their own health and wellbeing.  But I wonder if the true essence of FOMO involves a much deeper fear.  Maybe what’s lurking beneath the surface of FOMO is really FOBF (Fear of Being Forgotten).

And then we come to a verse like Psalm 103:16 that tells us that being forgotten is just a part of life.  We should expect it.  In fact, we should embrace it.  Being forgotten creates some of the most fertile soil possible in our hearts and souls.  Because when we are willing to be forgotten, and even to embrace it, somehow God becomes the point rather than us.  That is not meant to demean or devalue us, but to set us free.  It helps us keep things in proper perspective.  It shows us that we are not essential; the world is not going to fall apart if we are not around.  In fact, when we stop being around, the world will get along just fine without us.

Being forgotten grows the fruit of humility and dependence deep within us; two things that are essential in life with Jesus.  Two things we must become if we want to become like Jesus, who “made himself nothing.”  Or, as the NKJV says, "made Himself of no reputation.”  Ultimately, what life with God demands of us is not merely to “become less that he might become greater,” (John 3:30) but to become nothing that he might become all.  We are called to be forgotten, so that He, and only He, will be remembered.

Prayer

Closing Prayer:  Lord Jesus, I am willing to become forgotten for you.  Amen.