I am one who has a difficult time keeping track of what I need to remember. Over the years, I’ve developed the habit of writing things down on sticky notes, or keeping lists in a small notebook. I have notes about appointments I need to make, things at the grocery store I need to pick up, the oil change on my car that is long over-due. Sometimes, the notes I leave myself are about things I need to do — like take the dog to the groomer. Sometimes, the note is a reminder about a bill I need to pay, or a reservation I need to make. I’ve got lists and sticky notes all over my world, representing people, places, and things that are strewn all over my life.

I did an interesting exercise the other day. I gathered up a bunch of those sticky notes. I tried to sort of organize or categorize them; But, as I did so, it became sadly obvious to me that there was not one note — not one reminder that I wrote down — that had any kind of eternal focus. I didn’t want to forget chicken feed for the chickens, or to balance the checkbook, so I wrote those things down. But not one note to myself about things of eternal value that I need to remember.

So, I decided to start a list of things I think are eternally important; things that are so important that I never want to forget them. It will be, I hope, an ever-growing list of sticky truths; things I don’t want to slip my mind. Here’s the start of my list. You may want to begin a list of your own:

1. I want to remember to never say something to myself about myself that God would never say about me. He is an all-knowing God, of course. And He knows every frailty I have. But He’s not a finger-pointing God, looking down his nose at me. Always, he encourages. Always he lifts up. I never want to say something to myself about myself that God would never say about me.

 

2. I want to remember to guard my thoughts, and never think something of someone else that God would never think about them. How is it that I never left myself a sticky note to remind me to be careful about what I think of other people? 1 Cor. 13 — the love chapter in the New Testament — says “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” I need to remember that, so I wrote it down.

 

3. The third thing on my list of things I don’t want to forget is really simple and something everyone should know, but most of us act as if we don’t remember; only three words long. “Life is short.” The book says, You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.’ Everybody knows life is short. I hear people say it all the time. I decided to put that truth on my list of things I want to remember … Life is short, just in case it slips my mind.