All I know about using a computer, I learned the hard way.  I remember a time when “PC’s for Dummies” could answer most of my questions, but anymore, the advances are coming so fast, I don’t think anyone has time to fully write a “for Dummies” book without it’s being obsolete before it can make it to publication.

I would pay a king’s ransom for a defragmenter for my brain! Do you suppose anyone is working on that?  The way I understand it, a disk or hard drive is composed of sectors, I guess the equivalent of oh, say, little cubbies and compartments like we used to put our books into in first grade, and so when a very large file is downloaded, the disk will store the file in the smallest “cubby” that is large enough to contain it. Sometimes, however, the file is too large for one cubby to hold it all, so it will fill up one sector, and then find another sector in which to store the rest.

Now, when you go back to use that file, and the disk controller has to make multiple trips around the disk, to “pick up” and scan for all that information because it is in separated “clusters”, it slows down the performance of your disk.  That’s my brain.  Jumbled up and slow.

The job of the defragmenter, then, is to go in, find the files that belong together, and do a little shuffling to ensure files that belong together, reside together.  That way the poor disk controller isn’t running itself ragged going back and forth to access all of the info it needs to run that particular file for you.

My brain is fifty years old.  It has been through the mill.  I have read that the way our brains work is like a filing system as well.  Certain things stored in certain places, certain areas responsible for specific functions.  When we experience something, learn something, or memorize something, optimal conditions make for better comprehension, processing, and efficient storage of the in-taken data.  But under duress, stress, fatigue, and even as we age, various conditions degrade the efficiency with which we record and register the info.  In our fast-paced lifestyle, sensory overload is always ongoing, and so I think the biggest contributor to poor memory, is that we are seldom fully focused on any one thing whether it be the reminder call about that doctor’s appointment, or a tax deadline.

I was a nurse, I am a mom, and both of those jobs definitely require maintaining multiple streams of thought and multiple simultaneous focuses of awareness.  With my undiagnosed (for years) sleep disorders, even the natural “processing” the subconscious tends to at night during sleep, wasn’t running or performing well.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could reorganize the stuff in our head?  Throw out bad memories, regrets, that one particular song that, every time you hear it, it’s stuck replaying for days?  Just get rid of so much clutter!

Some people have a memory like those hoarder houses.  They remember everything from all the words to the theme songs of their favorite t.v. shows as a kid, to reams of useless trivia.

I lose one pair of reading glasses about every month or two. Lay them down someplace while I take a call, forget to switch back to them after wearing my sunglasses to drive. Take them off in the store, and catch them on the V-neck of my shirt, they fall off at some point and I am very hard of hearing, so I don’t know they’ve dropped unless some concerned and observant shopper points it out.

When I misplace something, I think I am like the computer there are already seven tabs running.  On the edge of crashing, perpetually.  I’ll be frantically mentally trying to retrace my steps, and it’s like I’m suddenly in a maze, or like running a data-encrypted card through a magnetic field.  As a matter of fact,  walking into a Wal-Mart literally has that effect on my brain.

Just too much visual stimulation.  The store is huge, the layout seems to change from week to week, and I almost feel like I need to consult a travel agent to come up with an itinerary to help ensure that I remember “squeeze everything in” that I need from one department before I move on to the next, because the good Lord knows, I don’t have the stamina to backtrack.

The human brain is a fascinating thing.  God’s ingenuity in the systems he created in our bodies, can’t help but inspire awe and praise, even though we live in a fallen world that is presently under the curse of sin.

I look forward to that change “in the twinkling of an eye”, when we will be like Him in glorified bodies, fresh, young, and strong once again.  I cannot imagine what it will be like to hear well once again, and not need those pesky glasses.

I  don’t know what, if anything, from this life we will remember.  What I do know is “all things will be new”. I had an acquaintance once, who told me that she doesn’t like anything that is old.  She was financially well-off, so I guess it worked out well that she had the means to replace things when they were no longer new.  I like old treasures I’ve kept for years, as well as vintage things that are “new to me”. Things that have staying power,  are durable, have character and history.

Some day the Lord is going to burn up this Earth and make everything new. But between now and then, after the Tribulation, there will be a thousand years in which this present Earth will be freed from the curse of sin. I look forward to seeing that. With my new eyes!

It is good knowing one’s Maker. Having read His Book, trusting with the faith of a child, His promises of a glorious future full of Hope?

Who needs that old defragmenter?  I will have a whole new mind!

This is peace. To know Him and to take Him at His Word.