A little reminder in an unusual place

Last year at this time, our house was full of boxes as we sorted through what we wanted to move ...and what we wanted to leave behind.  Not a day went by that there was not at least one person coming to pick up a Craigslist item.  They were joyful for the bargains.  We were joyful because we did not have to move more stuff.  Win-win situation.

Everything we moved, we had to touch, because we packed it all ourselves. Some things were obvious keepers.  Some things easy to discard, like an entire box of old Christmas cards that the girls had saved at some point to make Christmas crafts.

But I got nervous the closer and closer we inched toward my desk.  Some of my writing stuff was filed and clearly marked, but there was my infamous pile of papers, clipped articles, and ideas written down on backs of envelopes, sticky notes, and even napkins.  When crunchtime came, I scooped up those papers and put them in an old backpack which I transported to our daughter's house for safe keeping in the transition.  I wanted to sift through them without the pressure of an impending move.

It has been almost a year since we packed the house, and the other day as I was searching for a notebook, I chuckled when I found a folder marked, "I dreamed my entire desk was clean."

Inside that folder was a fellowship of papers of all shapes and sizes, notes written down in my comings and goings, hurriedly scribbled on whatever piece of paper I found at the time, words that flew quickly through my thoughts.  Amidst that conglomeration of papers, my eyes were drawn to a few words inscribed on the back of an old rumpled post-it note.  This is what I saw:

"If you are not praying,
    you are not listening."

Those words stopped me in my tracks that afternoon.

God reminded me with a scrap of paper
                       in an unusual place
of the ongoing conversation
that makes the most significant difference
                    in what I do
                              and who I am.
        
If I want things to be different
in my life
and in my relationship with God,
                            start right here.



Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses
                         face to face,
as a man speaks to his friend.

                                    Exodus 33.11

...as he came down from the mountain,
Moses did not know
that the skin of his face shone
because he had been talking with God.

                                     Exodus 34. 29