Tag Archives: Reminder

Chapter-a-Day

A Great Day

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A Great Day (CaD Jer 16) – Wayfarer

“However, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ but it will be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ For I will restore them to the land I gave their ancestors.
Jeremiah 16:14-15 (NIV)

Wendy and I enjoyed a very nice Easter yesterday. It was a gorgeous spring day in Iowa. The temperature was perfect. We opened the house to let the fresh spring breeze gently blow away any remaining winter dust.

We began Easter at worship with our local gathering of Jesus’ followers, which was packed full of both people and energy. Text messages came streaming in from family far and wide including Italy and Mexico. Wendy’s sister, Suzanna, announced that she’s pregnant with baby number two. Wendy and I made a bee line for home to host family for a classic midwest Iowa Easter dinner of roast turkey and ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet corn, warm rolls fresh from the oven, and green bean casserole. Of course there was cheesecake. Wendy made everyone’s favorite Dutch Letter cheesecake, but I personally chose some warm apple pie with some vanilla ice cream on top. There were eight of us total around the dining room table: Wendy and me, my dad, Wendy’s parents, grandma, along with an uncle and aunt. After our feast we sat in the living room to watch the Cubs lose as everyone nodded off. Americana at its best. It was downright Norman Rockwell-esque.

And, yes, there are leftovers!

After yesterday’s amazing celebration and feast, today’s chapter really resonated. God through the prophet Jeremiah uses three distinct word pictures to communicate to the Hebrew people just how stark the contrast will be when the Babylonians lay siege to the city of Jerusalem. God paints a series of three word pictures of the intimacy of family gatherings. Life’s most intimate moments are family gatherings, weddings, and funerals. Family gathers from far and wide to support, celebrate, mourn, dance, and feast. The ancient prophet paints these pictures of these intimate gatherings we all know, and then points out that in the wake of the coming Babylonian invasion all such normal human experiences will cease to be.

Families will be destroyed by starvation, violence, or separated by captivity and exile. There will be no one left to mourn. There will be no food for feasting. There will be no weddings. There won’t even be funerals because there will be no one left to mourn. The bodies will simply be left lying around. The only feasting will be carrion foul.

It’s a bleak picture to be sure, yet in the quiet this morning it has me meditating on a couple of realities.

The first is the reality that life does not always turn out the way we planned. As much as I may want to assume that my future will be smooth sailing and filled with Norman Rockwell-esque memory making for the rest of my years, there is no guarantee. As I ponder this, it makes me even more grateful for days like yesterday. I never want to take them for granted.

The second reality is that after painting the apocalyptic word pictures of doom, God provides a massive, game-changing “However” followed by a vision of redemption and restoration:

“However, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ but it will be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ For I will restore them to the land I gave their ancestors.

One of the recurring themes of the Great Story is that of this earthly journey being a trek through a series of peaks and valleys. Even in the famous 23rd psalm I start with the Shepherd in lush mountain pastures, traverse the “valley of the shadow of death” and end up on the next mountain-top in the “House of the Lord.”

God reminds His people through Jeremiah that 1) tough times are coming in consequence of their own poor choices and hard hearts but 2) this will teach them spiritual lessons that need to be learned and that eventually 3) God’s road of life will one day bring them back home much wiser and more grateful to be redeemed and restored.

I’m even more grateful for yesterday’s Easter celebration after meditating on this morning’s chapter. I’ll be extra thankful when I ask God’s blessing on the leftovers! 😉

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Memorials

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Memorials (CaD Jos 4) – Wayfarer

So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.
Joshua 4:8-9 (NIV)

A few weeks ago, I shared about Storii, the company our daughter, Taylor, works for. As a part of their suite of software applications, they’ve introduced a process by which an individual regularly receives a phone call asking them a specific question (e.g. “What was your first job?”) and then giving them four minutes to record their answer. The recordings are then made available to family members. It’s genius in its simplicity, and it’s been fun that Taylor has my father participating. I’ve heard him share some things I’d never known before.

I’ve often shared in these posts about my love of history, including the history of my own family. I’ve always found that an understanding of the past helps inform my own present earthly journey. Wisdom can be found in knowing family stories. I just wish I knew more of them. Hence, my joy with what Taylor’s employer is doing.

In today’s chapter, Joshua orders twelve men, one from each of the Hebrew tribes, to gather a stone from the Jordan River bed. Joshua then had the stones placed as a memorial for future generations to remember what God had done on that day when the waters of the Jordan River were stopped up so that the people could cross on dry ground.

That got me thinking this morning about memorials. Ironically, sitting on my desk as I write this is a photograph and ticket I had laminated of the night Taylor had the folks at the Iowa Cubs surprise us, revealing the gender of our first grandson, Milo, on the giant scoreboard. It was such a great memory. I wanted a way to be continually reminded of it. I use the laminated photo as a bookmark, and it makes me happy every time I see it. It’s a memorial for me.

I’m reminded this morning that God specifically told His people to share their God stories with future generations:

Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.
Deut 4:9 (NIV)

Of course, this begs a few questions: Do I have stories of what God has done in my life? What have my eyes seen God do? How have I experienced God’s goodness and faithfulness along my journey?

In the quiet this morning, today’s chapter has me thinking quite simply and practically. How do I share and leave the story about what God has done in my life for my descendants?

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Much Needed Affirmation

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Much Needed Affirmation (CaD Ps 12) – Wayfarer

The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure,
    silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
    purified seven times.
Psalm 12:6 (NRSVCE)

As I have confessed many times, I am not by temperament an optimist. In fact, as a child I didn’t get into fights with other kids because I was so good at beating myself up. The spiritual journey, if one genuinely follows Jesus, will always lead to dealing with the shit inside, and I use that word deliberately. We all have spiritual, emotional, relational, familial, experiential, and/or personal waste gumming up our souls and stinking things up inside.

I was fifteen or twenty years into my spiritual journey following Christ before Holy Spirit led me to the toxic waste that my internal critic had been creating in my soul with repetitive negative messages I’d been feeding myself without every being really conscious of it. As I processed my way through this, talked with wise counselors, and addressed the issue, I learned how much I need regular doses of healthy, affirming messages that counteract the negative self-talk that I can so easily slip into like a comfy old sweatshirt.

The first half of 2020 has been the most tumultuous period of time that I’ve experienced in my lifetime. COVID, lockdowns, social breakdown, economic downturn, violence, hypocrisy, and rage. Each morning as Wendy and I read the news we can’t believe what we’re reading. It’s enough to trigger my old inner critic to feed me all sorts of depressing messages of doom.

The lyrics of today’s short psalm feel like they could have been penned today. David is looking at the world around him, the generation he finds himself living in, and everything seems terrible. People are leaving the faith in droves, everyone speaks lies and false narratives to make themselves feel good, people demand their own way with arrogant pride, violence and vile acts are not just tolerated but celebrated, and the poor and needy are forgotten in the tumult.

Even as I write those words I have images of recent events coming to mind.

The reason for David’s song is found in the third verse. Amidst the seemingly endless stream of lies, hypocrisy, hatred, and false narratives David reminds himself that God and His promises are “pure” and have been refined by the fires of current events time and time again throughout history. David’s song is his own version of a much needed healthy, affirming reminder. God hasn’t abandoned or forsaken him. God’s promises are true. God has always faithfully protected, provided for, and delivered David from his enemies.

In the quiet this morning, I’m thankful for David’s little ditty. It reminds me that we are not the first generation of humanity to think everything was going to hell in a handbasket. I am not the only one who needs regular doses of healthy affirmation. God’s got this. I can believe it, and I can mentally run to that affirmation as many times as I need to today as I press on in the journey one more day.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Mnemonic Devices and Initiative

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“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes.”
Numbers 15:38-39 (NIV)

On a cubicle wall, in an office outside of Minneapolis, there hangs an old pink sticky note. On this sticky note are three handwritten reminders that the resident of the cubicle scrawled during a call coaching session I had with him several years ago. He added a hand-drawn finger with a string on it to the list and stuck it up where he would see it next to his computer monitor while talking with customers on the phone.

The three reminders on the sticky note were service skills that I told him were top priorities for improving his service delivery when speaking with customers. Within a short period of time his consistency demonstrating the three behaviors vastly improved. Over time he became one of the most consistent service providers in the company. He credits the simple mnemonic device for its continuing power to remind him what to say to his customers.

Visual reminders and mnemonic devices work to bring to mind and memory things we don’t want to forget. God gave the ancient Hebrews multiple mnemonic devices to help them remember His commands, including the wearing of tassels on their robes specified in today’s chapter. These devices are still used and practiced today because they work.

This morning I’m reminded of the power of reminders, even as simple as the annoying buzzes, beeps, and pop-up notifications on my devices. They do work. But, like many things in life, I’ve discovered that they only work if you work them. I had coached the gentleman I referenced in Minnesota for many years before he finally took the initiative to scratch out his reminder list, put it up before him, and commit to behavior change. It would be easy for me to shake my head in frustration at his long delay, but I’m as guilty as anyone at saying that I want to do things, perhaps even writing them down on a list, and then not doing them.

James 1:22 comes to mind in the quiet this morning: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” Mnemonic devices can remind me of what God’s Message says, but only my initiative can put those reminders into daily action.

 

Chapter-a-Day

The Enduring Power of a Simple Story

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“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’”
Matthew 18:32-33 (NIV)

I have been training groups and individuals in the art of Customer Service for almost a quarter century. Along that journey I’ve learned that students rarely remember all of the bullet points and service principles I teach them. They remember the stories. Just a year or so ago a woman came up to me prior to one of my classes. She had been in my class before and I asked her if she thought the content was beneficial.

“Oh yeah, it was good,” she said dismissively. “But just make sure to keep telling all the stories. You tell the best stories!”

She reminded me of a couple of front-line supervisors from another client who regularly showed up at the new hire service training class I did at their company each quarter. I asked them why they kept coming back. “We just want to hear you tell those stories again,” they would say with a laugh. “They never get old.”

If you haven’t noticed it, our culture has been recapturing the power of story in recent years. There are books, conferences, and entire consulting practices around story. This isn’t new. It’s eternal. The power of story is woven into the fabric of life. We were created in the image of The Great Story Teller. Story, metaphor, and word pictures communicate concepts in profound and emotional ways.

This is why Jesus told parables. They are powerful in their simplicity, profound in their impact.

In today’s chapter, Jesus tells an amazingly simple parable. A servant begs his master to forgive his deep indebtedness, which the master does. The servant then immediately goes out and rakes his own servant over the coals for some small debt. I have read this parable countless times, and it still resonates with each reading. How many times have I confessed my many failings and shortcomings to God and begged His forgiveness. How great a debt God has graciously forgiven. How then can I refuse to choose to forgive the injuries, slights, betrayals, insults, and inconsiderations of others?

This morning I’m doing a Google search of my heart, mind, life and relationships for anyone I’m holding something against, or anything I’ve refused to forgive.

All because of a simple story I read again.

 

 

Chapter-a-Day

We All Need a Reminder (or Two)

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jotterTie them on your fingers as a reminder.
    Write them deep within your heart.
Proverbs 7:3 (NLT)

In my daily vocation I often find myself helping people introduce new habits in the way they talk to customers on the phone. Most basic service skills are easy to say and do, they just require conscious effort for a time. One of the mnemonic devices I encourage with people is the simple visual reminder: Take the three service skills that are most critical for you to demonstrate and make a small checklist on the side of your computer monitor. As you’re helping the customer, you see the checklist and it reminds you to do them in the moment. It’s a variation on the the string tied around your finger that Solomon used in today’s chapter.

Over the years I’ve used the same principle with particular thoughts and verses I want to remember from our chapter-a-day journey. For example, you’ll find a small laminated card on my bathroom mirror with 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12. It reminds me each day to be quiet, productive and to be a positive example to those around me. On a 3×5 card in my leather work folio you’ll find Psalm 112 which reminds me of the kind of man I desire to be each day. I have these things memorized for the most part, but the visual cue creates an important reminder at critical moments in my day.

The verses on my mirror question my motivation as I’m shaving and getting ready in the morning. They often provides a necessary attitude adjustment before I head out into the world. I spy the card in my jotter when I pull out my folio in a client meeting. In a critical moment when I have the opportunity to be a positive influence on others, it silently reminds me to be mindful of my words and actions.

You never reach the age when simple mnemonic devices stop being useful in a million different ways. Wise King Solomon knew it as well. Tie that string around your finger. Stick that verse up where you’ll see it each day. We can all do with a little positive reminder.

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Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day 1 Peter 1

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Contemporary rendering of a poster from the Un...
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So think clearly and exercise self-control. 1 Peter 1:13a (NLT)

As I read through these words from this morning’s chapter, I was reminded of the British war time posters that have become all the rage in recent years. Millions of the posters, which simply state “Keep Calm and Carry On” were made by the British Ministry of Information in 1939 to boost morale during World War II, but for an unknown reason the posters were only distributed in limited numbers and were little known. In 2000, the posters were rediscovered and have become a popular theme on all sorts of products and parodies.

Perhaps it’s the coupling of two simple commands that made my brain make the connection. “Think clearly and practice self-control” is just as relevant an admonishment in times of war or peace. It’s worthy of daily reminder.

We are bombarded with so much information and misinformation on a daily basis from an increasing number of media outlets and apps. Clear thinking is not always an easy task in the midst of it. Our chapter-a-day journey is one way that I try to feed my thinking with eternal, spiritual truths rather than momentary sound bytes. The daily perspective from God’s Message helps my mind and soul cut through the glut of useless and temporal noise.

Exercising self-control is an equally important command worthy of daily reminder. Wendy and I have been doing a lot of thinking about and discussion around the idea of appetites recently. A few weeks ago we spent a drive to Des Moines talking about the traditional “seven deadly sins” (lust, gluttony, wrath, sloth, pride, greed, envy) and made the observation that each of the “sins” are natural human appetites out of control. Likewise, the result of each is destructive to both self, intimacy with God and intimacy with others. Our journey towards maturity, wisdom and spiritual wholeness requires an ever and increasing measure of self-control over our human appetites and inclinations.

Today, I’m reminding myself to “think clearly and exercise self-control.”

 

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Deuteronomy 6

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Mezuzah at the entrance of the Museum am Juden...
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Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates. Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (MSG)

It is interesting the things that stand out about other countries and cultures when you visit. When I traveled to Israel several years ago, one of the first things that stood out to me were the little ornate boxes that were attached to seemingly every door frame of every house, shop or hotel room.

I learned very quickly that the box is called a mezuzah and it is hollow inside so that a scroll with God’s word could be treasured inside it. It was Israel’s way of being literally obedient to the command in Deuteronomy 6 to take God’s commands and “inscribe them on the doorpost of your homes.” As you go in and out of the house you will see the mezuza and you will remember Deuteronomy 6 and both God’s command and his promised blessing.

I bought a mezuzah in Israel and brought it back with me. I have hung it on the most used door in every home I’ve lived in since. When Wendy and I moved into our house I brought it with me. It’s been sitting on a bookshelf in the living room.  A while back I asked Wendy to pick out some verses she wanted placed in our mezuzah. I then picked out some verses of my own, but like many other things in life I shoved the “to-do” of hanging the mezuzah on the back burner. After reading today’s chapter, I can think of no better day to get off the dime and hang it.

There is nothing magical about the mezuzah. It’s simply a mnemonic device. It’s a reminder. As I go out my door and return each day in the hustle and bustle of life, my mind is usually buzzing to remember a million “urgent” things. The mezuzah reminds me in that moment that I need to give both my mind and my heart to remember those things that are eternally significant.

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Chapter-a-Day Numbers 15

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Tassel making
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God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them that from now on they are to make tassels on the corners of their garments and to mark each corner tassel with a blue thread. When you look at these tassels you’ll remember and keep all the commandments of God, and not get distracted by everything you feel or see that seduces you into infidelities. The tassels will signal remembrance and observance of all my commandments, to live a holy life to God. I am your God who rescued you from the land of Egypt to be your personal God. Yes, I am God, your God.” Numbers 15:37-41 (MSG)

Part of my job is to coach people to improve the customer service they deliver on the phone. Most often, the road to improvement means developing behavioral habits which have not been part of a person’s natural conversation. He or she must remember to say certain things inside their interaction with the customer.

To help people remember, I will often encourage them to use a mnemonic device – a visual aid that reminds them to say the appropriate phrase. For example, if people forget to thank customers for holding, I encourage them to put a small sticky note by the hold button on their phone with the word “thanks” written on it. When they reach over to hit the button, they see the sticky note and are reminded to thank the customer for holding.

These types of devices work. Visually seeing something that reminds us of something we’re supposed to do can help us remember. Even God knows that, and gave instructions for the people to sew tassels on their garments to remind them of God’s commands.

Small reminders can help us with much larger matters of faith, obedience, and spiritual discipline.

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Chapter-a-Day Luke 24

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“Remember how he told you when you were still back in Galilee that he had to be handed over to sinners, be killed on a cross, and in three days rise up?” Then they remembered Jesus’ words. Luke 24:6b-7 (MSG)

This past week I wrote about my college age daughter refusing to heed my warning about the weather, and finding herself in a ditch in her new [used] car in the wee hours of a cold, wintery night. I have enjoyed hugging her this week, knowing that she is safe, and have fought the urge to remind her of my words. It would be so easy to say, “I told you so. Why didn’t you listen to my warning and wait until the storm passed?”

As I read today’s chapter I noticed a theme:

  • Angels remind the women at the tomb that Jesus told them exactly what was going to happen. vss. 4-8
  • Jesus, in frustration, reminds the disciples on the road to Emmaus that what happened to him was exactly what the prophets foretold. vs. 25
  • Jesus reminds the disciples that he revealed to them that the scriptures said he must suffer, die and be raised. vs. 45-46

As I read, I thought about my own experience as a father this week, and remembered the countless times my Earthly father and my Heavenly Father could have said “Didn’t I tell you? Weren’t you listening? Don’t you remember what I said?”

We are all just children in the never ending process of growing up. Maturity is revealed in each of us as we remember, via the hard way or the easy way, the lessons we’ve been taught and apply them to our current circumstances.

God, remind me of what I’ve been taught, and the lessons I’ve learned along the way. Give me the wisdom, grace, and maturity to apply those lessons as I walk through my day.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and jakekrohn