Practical Paideia

Lindsey Ralls

While sitting in seventh grade chorus this week, I listened as the students practiced a piece for the Christmas concert. After the song ended, one of the boys raised his hand and said, “I just don’t think I can hit that last high note—my voice just won’t do it!” The teacher responded by saying, “I know it feels that way because it is pretty high, but I know you can do it because you’ve done it before.” Look back at your music.

He flipped back a few lines and there it was – the exact same note, one he’d just sung without even thinking about it. 

The thing about music is that it’s wonderfully objective. An F is an F.  A C is a C. It’s clear cut – which 12 year old boys greatly appreciate. He flipped back a page, compared the two notes, and said, “huh, look at that – I guess I can.”

It’s so important that we encourage our children to do hard things. But, I think it’s just as important to help them remember the hard things they’ve already done. Because, like our seventh grader above – we forget so easily! 

The Hebrew word zikkaron appears 24 times in the Old Testament. It’s usually translated “remembrance” or “memorial”, but it’s more than just our modern idea of memory. It literally means “to make a past event present and effective“. Which is why God kept telling His people to do it.

Remember the Red Sea.
Remember the Wilderness.
Remember.

When we remember the past and what the Lord has brought us through, we are able to put our current circumstances in perspective.

The Lord was faithful then.
He will be faithful again.

I catch myself saying things like “you’ve got this” or “you can do it” to my own kids, but those kinds of comments fall on deaf ears and I think it’s because there is nothing backing them up. We teach our students and our children that a good argument has strong evidence but then when the time comes we encourage them with wishful thinking and good thoughts – and they know that’s not enough! How much more powerful is it to say, “you did this before – remember? And I know God will help you do it again. 

The past, when remembered rightly, becomes an anchor that holds us steady in today’s waves.