Post-It Note Wisdom: Life Accumulates
Over the next few weeks, I'm doing a series here called, "Post-It Note Wisdom." Today I'll tell
you where my Post-It note wisdom idea originated.
I did something a few years ago that I never thought in a million years I would do... It wasn't
what anyone would expect of me at all, especially me. Was I really going to do it? And when I
did, everyone kept asking me if it hurt! "How did it feel?" "Will you do it again?" "Really,
YOU!?"
Answers: YES, me. Yes, it DID hurt. It felt like 10,000 sweat bee stings over and over. (Just as
an aside, when I was a kid and required to work in the garden with the family, my mother used
to say that if a sweat bee stings you, it's an indication that you are lazy. So 10,000
confirmations that I'm lazy while I sat in the chair for this experience!) I watched in fascination
as the high priest (his name was Aaron, so that's a little nerdy Biblical humor) wiped blood off
with each little gouge of the needle!
Yep! As if you haven't figured it out, I got a tattoo!!!
It's about an inch tall and two inches wide. It's on my inner right wrist, and it's a gold infinity
symbol with the words "Life Accumulates" written through the loops of the symbol. I was
inspired, after a hard season of the try/fail/try again cycle to get a permanent reminder that our
little choices matter, and they accumulate over time. It's not the ONE dish of Ghirardelli Triple
Fudge Chocolate Brownies with 3 scoops of Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream that causes
problems (Oh my! That does explain some things, doesn't it!?!). And I realize that's an oddly
specific example, and I'm sure it is NOT an indication of an addiction AT ALL. It's not the
ONE cheat day, to bring it down to people without my particular addiction. It's their multiple
accumulation over time.
I didn't really plan to ever get a tattoo, but after talking about my lack of consistency and
indicating I needed it tattooed somewhere on my body to remind me, a friend of mind actually
did it! So, in solidarity, and perhaps a bit of peer pressure, I decided to get it done.
When I suggested to my husband that I wanted to get this "Life accumulates" message indelibly
printed on my body, his response was, "Couldn't you just stick a post-it-note on your forehead?
Wouldn't that work just as well?"
Now, a few years older and wiser, he MAY-I say he MAAAY-have been on to something.
In spite of the indelible ink on my inner wrist (that use to take me by surprise when I brushed
my teeth every morning, but now has faded into the landscape), I can't seem to remember
moment by moment that Life Accumulates. Whether it's my diet, my time, my money, or my
habits, I can't seem to indelibly imprint the message on my MIND. Until it's permanent there, it
doesn't matter much if I've inked it on my body.
Maya Angelou is credited with the quote, "Do the best you can until you know better. Then
when you know better, do better." I think as a culture we are big on the knowing, but not so
much on the doing. True wisdom is not only knowing what is better, but actually following
through and doing it. That's the disconnect for me, and the reason I got the tatoo. I wanted to
narrow the distance between the knowing and the doing, and truly be WISE.
Wisdom is vastly underrated. See if you have the same challenges I do:
I never seem to have enough time. Truly productive activity gets pushed back in favor of more
sleep time or a scroll down Facebook lane or my daily Wordle challenge. Just a little thing. A
little thing that could accumulate differently if I chose better.
I never seem to have enough money. I'm faithful to tithe, but my giving is often stifled by other
choices. Debt and mismanagement accumulate... It's not the one time we eat out, but the
accumulation of several times that hinders my ability to give. A small change -- dinner in or
margin of time so that the drive-thru isn't my "best" option -- could accumulate in a different
direction. My faithfulness financially would net me more resources to share.
I never seem to get healthier or thinner or be able to get important things like blood pressure,
sugar, and cholesterol under control. Maybe the Ghirardelli triple fudge brownies once a month
instead of once a week. Maybe a salad instead of Big Bob's Burgers. Maybe opt for a brisk
walk instead of vegging on the couch or streaming a show I've watched a dozen times (NCIS,
anyone?) Oh, how my choices could accumulate!!
Solomon, son of David, considered among the wisest men who ever lived, had this to say about
his Proverbs, snippets of wisdom written nearly a thousand years ago:
Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline,
to help them understand the insights of the wise.
Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives,
to help them do what is right, just, and fair.
(Proverbs 1:2-3 NLT)
The writer switches voices throughout chapter one, speaking first for himself, then as a father
exhorting his child to acquire wisdom, and then as Wisdom personified in verses 20-33:
Wisdom shouts in the streets. She cries out in the public square.
She calls to the crowds along the main street, to those gathered in front of the city gait:
"How long, you simpletons, will you insist on being simpleminded?
How long will you mockers relish your mocking? How long will you fools hate knowledge?
Come and listen to my counsel.
I'll share my heart with you and make you wise.
They rejected my advice
and paid no attention when I corrected them.
Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way,
choking on their own schemes.
For simpletons turn away from me-to death.
Fools are destroyed by their own complacency.
But all who listen to me will live in peace,
untroubled by fear of harm."
Do you get the feeling that our prolonged patterns of unwise, accumulating behaviors, which do
not serve us well, may be us insisting on being simpleminded? I had a professor in college who
rolled his eyes in disgust at what he called "aggressive stupidity." I might be a little triggered by
that memory right now!
Let me encourage you and me. James 1:5 tells us that if we lack wisdom, we can ask God for it,
and He is generous with it!
Paul wrote to the Philippians that "it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to
fulfill his good pleasure." 3:13. The Amplified version expands this idea, "For it is [not your
strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is,
strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose]
for His good pleasure." God supports the believer, but it is the believers' responsibility to do
what he has been called by God to do.
So we have help! And our goal is progress, not perfection. Paul told Timothy, "Be diligent in
these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch
your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself
and your hearers." 1 Timothy 4:15-16
The doctrine word for getting better is "sanctification." It's that perfecting process that God
wants to take us through, making us more like Jesus. Not content with just our heart, God wants
our minds, too! Let the transformation begin!
So, in case you are tempted to get a tatoo, or you just wanna be more faithful or more wise in
areas of your life and relationship with Jesus, grab a stack of post-it notes in different colors.
Write the snippets of wisdom you receive from Scripture, from mentors, or other biblically wise
individuals, on them and pop them on your computer, your desk, your planner, your wall, or
your forehead. Read them daily until your mind and your behaviors shift, or the post-its become
part of the landscape. Then you'll know it's time for a refresh of wisdom.
Watch for the wisdom to be indelibly printed on your mind. That's when you'll see progress in
the things you want to change. That's when you'll know that the external is truly a reflection of
the internal. Authentic to the core.
So, Today's post-it note: Life Accumulates.
Little by little.
Life Accumulates.
Post it where you can see it (I wouldn't recommend your forehead!). And we'll explore another
post-it note idea next week. Get ready! It's a doozy!
Father,
Thank You that you give us wisdom to occupy until you come! Keep us mindful, Lord, of our
sanctification - that You are transforming us into the likeness of Jesus! Be our guide toward all
things wise, Father. You say in Your Word, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you
should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you." (Psalm 32:8) Help us be receptive to
your instruction, Lord, eager to be more like Jesus today than we were yesterday.
Remind us, remind me, Father, that life accumulates. It's the law of sowing and reaping. Teach
us to sow into wisdom and reap the rewards that follow. Thank You for Post-It Notes, Lord, that
enable us to write it down and remember. I'm reminded that all things excellent and
praiseworthy are worthy of my thoughts! Thank you!
In Jesus's name,
Amen
