Want to improve your memory? Just smell the roses. This morning's New York Times carries a fascinating article which explores the ways our brain acts and reacts during sleep. When we are in "deep sleep," that period of most significant dreams and brain activity, our cortex communicates with our hippocampus. In layman's terms, we are connecting with memories recorded during the day, and reinforcing them for future use.

Oddly enough, when trial subjects were exposed to the scent of roses during such "deep sleep," their retention improved by 13 percent. No one knows why the scent of roses works this way; preliminary research may indicate that acrid odors are even more effective. Score one for college dorm rooms.

Meanwhile, today's Wall Street Journal reports that a federal jury has ordered Vonage to pay $58 million in damages and 5.5 percent of future revenues to Verizon Communications. The jury concluded that the Internet phone service infringed on three of Verizon's patents. Sprint Nextel has sued Vonage as well. Its attorneys are unlikely to forget today's news.

Most of us have experienced the frustration of forgetting something important while remembering something trivial. I will apparently always remember the lyrics to "Gilligan's Island," but sometimes forget the name of the guest I just met after Sunday worship. I am better at remembering injustices committed against me than I am at remembering times I have been unkind to someone else. It is human nature to judge others by their actions and ourselves by our intentions, to remember their mistakes while forgetting our own.

The good news today is that God does not suffer from our selective memory. He remembers your name and counts the hairs on your head this morning (Matthew 10:30). And yet he promises: "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more" (Isaiah 43:25). He has already forgotten every sin you've confessed to him. But he remembers every act of godly service you have ever rendered another, every cup of cold water in Jesus' name (Matthew 10:42).

Is there something in your past which you'd like God to forget today? He's waiting on your repentant confession, ready to forgive and redeem. Will you do something significant for one of God's children today, an act he will remember and reward forever? Do it now, before you forget, and know that he never will. This is the promise of God.

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