Short Term Memory Loss

    Today I was enjoying the crocuses. Every time I see them, they bless me because I know that Spring, my favorite season, is right around the corner. But I never remember in the Fall, when it's time to plant, how much I love them for blooming out of the cold ground, raising their faces to the sky and crying out "Be of good cheer! It's true! Spring is really coming! Just a little while longer--it's almost here!" So that got me thinking about remembering, and that got me thinking about not remembering.

    I have a significant degree of short-term memory loss these days. In fact, I realized Tuesday night that earlier that day I walked away from my dear friend Babs, mid-conversation, because I turned around when someone distracted me and I forgot I was talking to her! (There were a lot of people and I had hit sensory overload the hour before.) Although I don't like it, I am sure the Lord has His reasons.

    Short term memory loss is part of my new CEBV Cognitive Package, which I sometimes struggle to call an upgrade, but nevertheless it was bundled so it's now mine. And, although it makes me sad sometimes, it's ok because before you know it, I forget it's even a problem. :) 

    To my surprise, the neurologist I saw a couple of weeks ago, upon reviewing the results of the additional tests he ordered, said it appears that I have CEBV (Chronic Epstein-Barr Virus). EBV is the virus, with a number of different strains, that causes the common ailment Mononucleosis, which I came down with last July. Discovered in 1964 by M. A. Epstein, Y. M. Barr, and B. G. Achong, the Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) is said to be one of the most prevalent pathogens in human beings. (I wonder what Dr. Achong did to get left out of the name?!) It is estimated that up to 90% of the populace has been infected, completely unaware due to the varying intensity of symptoms. Typically, the virus is benign and is acquired w/o notice (as in my husband's case, for example, who tested as having had it, but did not recall being sick).

    I was surprised the doc conceded this, because he is the same doc who said not to expect any diagnosis. This 'disease' has only recently been recognized and some doctors think it is fiction. I thought maybe he was one of them. I am convinced those would be doctors who have neither had it nor known anyone personally who has contracted it. I personally find it rather hard to dismiss.

    But the Lord, who is gracious and knows we are dust and sometimes in need of encouragement, reminded me today that He has short-term memory loss too, and that it is SOMETHING TO BE VERY THANKFUL FOR. In Jeremiah 31:31-34, He is telling of the end of the Old Covenant, one which we could never keep, and the coming New Covenant, to be purchased by Christ:

"Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD."But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." 

   So while I am not always happy about my memory loss, I am always happy about the Lord's. His loss is my gain, and a greater blessing than even the crocuses.