It seems like lately as I watch different sporting events, I’m hearing a lot about having a short memory. I hear a lot about it while watching professional golf on TV. A golfer misses a short putt or has a drive out of bounds, and the announcers talk about having a short memory. About how that golfer has to forget about the bad shot and move on to the next. I hear it while watching football, pertaining to a quarterback who just threw an interception that was run back for a touchdown, or a running back who fumbled the ball while the offense was just putting together a great drive.

The point is that the athlete has to forget about what bad thing just happened and move on and try to perform at his or her best for the rest of the competition. How many times have you seen one bad play take away the momentum one team has going, and they can’t get it back? We have to forget about the bad and give it our best shot.

Since day one, when God gave Adam and Eve free will and they brought sin into the world, God has been forgiving man’s sins. It is mentioned several times in the Bible about forgiving each other as God has forgiven us. Think about when you look back in your past and someone has done you wrong. When you have been very upset about it and you just can’t stop thinking about. You think about how wrong that person was and maybe about how you might be able to get back at them to “even” things up. Some people can carry hate for a long time and when they look back, carrying the hate did nothing to change what had happened. Sometimes a year or more can go by, and all of a sudden you look back and think, what if I had just forgiven and forgot in the first place how that last year could have been different. We only get one shot at each day. Make it count! “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today? Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt 

We need to learn to have a short memory; to forgive. To leave that one bad shot or bad play behind us and continue to compete in this great game called life. When we learn to forgive and forget and get on loving and living, we will live a much happier and productive life. And hopefully when the Master calls us home he will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”