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Write It Down – Words To Live By

Have you ever said to yourself, “I should write it down”, but then never did? 

write it down - words to live by

What generally happens is that thought, idea, or action disappears from your memory. 

It happens to me regularly.

I keep telling myself that I need to “write it down” but so often I don’t. In fact I had an idea for a post a few weeks ago and thought I should write it down. I didn’t.

This morning when I sat down to finally get at it, all I could remember was that I had had a great idea for a blog post. I had no recollection of what that idea was.

So I sat with my iPad in front of me recalling my activities over the last few weeks. No lightbulb moment came to me. The only blog idea I have right now is to “write it down”.

It’s not like I have a bad memory, it’s just that I have had so many other thoughts and experiences that have taken place since I first thought of that killer post idea. By now the memory of that idea has been crowded out. 

I’ve done the same thing with login passwords. I have had to come up with a password for something I’ve registered for, but instead of writing that password down on my list, I just tried to remember it for a while … or I wrote the pass code on a scrap piece of paper so I could enter it in my list later. 

But later becomes days, maybe weeks, and I’ve either forgotten where that scrap of paper was or it got thrown out after a while. 

I’d like to tell a story of a spectacular idea I had and how I forgot all about it. If I had remembered it, I would be busy typing about it right now instead of rambling on about not writing down my ideas.

Writing ideas down is not laborious. I have a notes app on my phone that’s always in my pocket. I could easily text a line or two about an idea and it’s preserved.

But doing that would require me to feel at risk of losing my idea in the sea of other thoughts that flood my brain each day.

Instead, I think my thought is so shiny and bright that I will never forget it.

Which reminds me of when I was a kid. In the spring I would float a twig down the river that formed in the ditch on the way home from school. I had no trouble knowing which twig I had put into the flow … until it went into a culvert and I would wait for it to come out the other end. 

Sometimes I would wait and wait and then give up waiting, not really remembering what it looked like or presuming it got stuck inside the culvert and never came out.

At any rate, the twig was gone just like my idea.

Here’s the thing: There are times when you have an experience that could only be from the hand of God. Write it down because, in time, if you don’t, you won’t remember what God has done for you. Then you won’t be able to reflect on it and continue to benefit from His work.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you wish most that you had written down? Leave your comments and questions below.

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I Have An Idea For The Next Ten Minutes

I have an idea that I’m going to test out over the next little while. It’s partly out of necessity.

This time of year is a busy one for me, just like it is for many others. With all the things I’ve got to do, it’s easy to forget some things, put some things off until they are urgent, and work away at the thing or things that have to be accomplished next.

The problem is the “forget” and “put off” columns keep getting longer!

My idea is to take all the things that are on the to-do list and spend ten minutes on them each day.

That’s right, just ten minutes.

For me, I spend the greatest amount of time in the day on what is next. But at some point everything on my to-do list will become a “next” activity.

That’s when I’ll be in real trouble.

So in the mean time, I’ll spend just ten minutes a day on those other-than-next-thing items, just to make a little progress on them.

They say the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time, so that’s my idea … I’m just considering a very small bite.

We don’t have much use for ten minutes in our day. Ten minutes has become much like “give me a minute”; it’s just a pushback to give us more time.

We look for bigger blocks of time to get things done. The problem is I don’t have the big blocks of time to give to anything other than the “next” thing.

We have done away with the penny and there is talk about doing away with the nickel as well. These are small denominations of currency that we don’t really use much any more.

Well, we also don’t use ten minutes for much any more. … When was the last time you were in a ten minute meeting?

When was the last time you just waited ten minutes to get into your appointment?

The only thing that is ten minutes these days is how long it takes for my chicken wing order. When I call up for wings on Saturday night, they always say, “They’ll be ready in ten minutes.”

Why I want to focus on ten minutes is because if I spend even ten minutes on something, at the end of my day I’m going to feel like I made progress, like I got something done on my list.

The long and short of it is, I’m going to feel better; I’m not going to feel the same pressure on my shoulders.

So how it will work is this: I will give ten minutes to as many things on my list as I can each day.

I may use my ten minutes on a to-do item as a break between my work on the “next” thing. I might even stack those ten minutes up and work consecutively on them at the end of my day.

… We’ll see how this plan works out.

Here’s the thing: All the things you have going on in your life will crowd out other things. You get to the point where you say, “I don’t have the time for that.” You might say you don’t have time for God. But you do have ten minutes somewhere … and that’s a great place to start. Give Him ten minutes if that’s all you have, but be consistent. See if your time with God will become a “next” kind of thing for you.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you doing to make progress on your to-do list? Leave your comments below.

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A New Idea For Your Shopping Experience

I’ve come up with a new idea for grocery stores, something I’m sure could be used in other retail businesses as well.

The idea is a bit of a throwback to the “service is king” mentality of yesteryear. It should work well because it will market to people who remember yesteryear.

“Yesteryear” is a time in the past – not really sure when – but it was long ago. It’s also referred to fondly by many as “the good old days”.

This idea I have is for seniors, and I really think it could take off. It would cost the grocery stores some money in employing young teens who can handle a harsh comment and a light touch of a cane to the back of the leg.

Here’s where I got the idea from …

I was at a grocery store helping Lily do the shopping. Actually, I was adding to the shopping cart, her shopping list and to the price we would be paying.

I had found something about two aisles over from where Lily was with the cart. As I made my way to Lil, I saw a little old lady (not the one from Pasadina) at the end of the aisle where Lily was looking intently at the label on a package of paper towels.

The lady caught my eye because she was just standing there with her hand on a stack of pop cans, with a look on her face that I identified as “I think I might need some help here”.

I thought maybe she was not feeling well, like maybe she was dizzy, or weak, or confused. So I asked her, “Are you okay? Do you need some help?

She responded by saying “I can’t find my shopping cart; someone has taken it.”

Hearing that I was ready to jump into action and overpower the jerk who took the old lady’s cart. But just as I was about to start looking, a teenaged store employee came along with her cart and a cane.

I guess she had wondered off from them and didn’t remember where they were. The young man called her by name and said, “here you go” as he handed her her stuff.

She turned and commented, “It’s hard; I’m 91 years old.” As she shuffled away, I saw a cashier trying to wave her down, telling her she also had some groceries waiting at the cash.

You know that lady was going to get into a car and drive away after that?! … but that’s another blog post altogether.

When I saw all this happen I got inspired. I bet a lot of seniors – I mean the really senior kind of seniors – would love to have a young guy or girl push their cart and fill it, all on their command.

Seniors would flock to a grocery store that had that kind of service. The kids wouldn’t mind; they might even get a tip, and something monetary from the seniors they served.

Who knows? By the time I get to be a real senior, I might like a little of that yesteryear treatment too.

Here’s the thing: We all need a little help at times in life. One of the most important things a church provides is others to walk with you when you need that helping hand. Church should be a place where people assist each other and we all should be on the lookout for those we might be able to help.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How have you been helped by someone in your life? Leave a comment below.