Mnemonics and Remembering

Yesterday morning I went to ‘Whitton Life’, our church community café, for ‘FISH’. Many families were there for a free breakfast. Our chaplains offered hand massages and chat around coping strategies and spirituality, the Town Council were doing autumn crafts, and our local police officer popped in to say hi & give out stickers. It was a good day!

‘FISH’, standing for ‘Food In School Holidays’, has been a vital service to Lowestoft for many years… serving 1000s of meals… working in partnership with many churches and businesses… providing a safe space to enjoy good food and good company…

I enjoy mnemonics – from the ancient Greek word ‘mnēmonikos’ meaning ‘relating to memory’. Apparently Mnemosyne was the goddess of memory in Greek mythology…

At school I was taught ‘Richard Of York Gained Battle In Vain’ to remember the colours of the rainbow ‘Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet’, and ‘Never Eat Shredded Wheat’ for the clockwise order of the points on a compass ‘North, East, South, West’.

At church I was taught that GRACE was ‘God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense’… JOY comes from putting Jesus first, Others second, Yourself last… our prayers should include ACTS – Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication…

… and that the order of Paul’s epistles was A,E,I,O,U – GALAtions EPHEsians, PHILIpians, COLOsians, ThesalUnions.

The mnemonic that’s challenged me is this week the one that says I should THINK before I speak. THINK stands for five questions… Is it True? Is it Helpful? Is it Inspiring? Is it Necessary? Is it Kind?

My days are filled with words received and given. I read and write, listen and speak. THINK challenges me to examine the words that I give. Do my words have a positive or negative effect? Should I speak up or remain silent? Should I be looking for opportunities to speak or avoiding them?

My prayer today is that my words will be true, helpful, inspiring, necessary, and kind… and my declining memory suggests that I might need Mnemosyne’s help!