It took about half a second.

I glanced down my Facebook news feed – very quickly, I might add – and happened to catch a friend’s post about an old Maria Muldaur song…

Midnight at the oasis…send your camel to bed…

(It’s probably here that you’re thinking, “where in the WORLD is she going to go with THOSE lyrics?”  Let me assure you that the only place to go with those lyrics is CRAZY.)

It only took that one glance, that tiny millisecond, before I was singing that one phrase of the song over and over and over.

That was yesterday.

I woke up, this morning, telling the camel it was no longer midnight, and that he should WAKE UP and MOVE ON.

Our brains are marvelous things. Truly. But, I don’t understand why they pick up on stuff like this so easily, hanging on to them with an iron grip while struggling to keep even the loosest grasp of the things that really matter.

Maybe it’s the weight of a thing that’s the difference. This little bit of lyric carries no weight at all, in the grand scheme of things. It’s a bit of fluff, like a piece of lint that sticks to a suit jacket for a while and, later, is lifted off by the breeze. Unimportant. Inconsequential.

However, there are things IN that suit coat that were intentionally put there for safekeeping. An antique fountain pen, for instance, or a business card from a potentially important client. Those things have meaning, and are dealt with intentionally because of the weight they carry.

Kind of like the date of your anniversary.

Sort of like your kid’s big soccer game in the midst of a corporate visit from the home office.

A lot like memorizing the scripture that GETS YOU THROUGH.

So, it turns out, at least to my way of thinking, that remembering the things that matter requires a little effort on our part. A proactive, intentional engaging with the the heavy, important things, so they are there when we need them. And because they’ve been proven worth the extra effort.

I’m grateful to even have the capacity for it.

As for the reactive side, while it can be a little annoying at times, at least it’s often in the form of music, and hey, who doesn’t love some background tunes? I’m ready to change the channel, though.

Anyone have a new tune to lodge in my brain?

Anyone??

“Place these words on your hearts. Get them deep inside you. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder. Teach them to your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning until you fall into bed at night. Inscribe them on the doorposts and gates of your cities so that you’ll live a long time, and your children with you, on the soil that God promised to give your ancestors for as long as there is a sky over the Earth.” Deuteronomy 11:18-21 MSG

“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” Hebrews 2:1 ESV

“Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'” Matthew 22:37 NIV

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” Philippians 4:8 NIV