Ever since the day I wholly surrendered to the LORD I have had just a plain old spiral notebook with me at almost all times.
This notebook holds my prayers, my random thoughts, sermon notes, my to do list, and also I work out and write my lesson plans in this notebook. At the top of the page I date every prayer entry and every lesson plan, so I know when I learned what.
Last Saturday night I used the last page in my notebook… and I went to grab another from our office/school room (I try to stay stocked up) and I was out. I have been a scattered mess since that moment, though I did not realize it. I went through my office a hundred times looking for at least an almost empty one, to no avail.
I have thought, it will be fine. I will get one this week sometime. I journal my thoughts so much in my blog now, and put my lessons in proclaim now, I can jot notes in my ipad and schedule planner… I probably won’t even miss it…
Let me tell you that my thoughts can be such foolishness!
This morning, after wondering around the kitchen waiting on coffee, and reaching once again for my last used notebook and seeing once again that the pages really were full and feeling like I could not possibly plan out a lesson without it, I broke and was writing “spiral notebook” on the grocery list because my husband was going early this morning…
And of course I went to the office/school room to check one more time…
Then much to my wondering eyes did appear… I saw one I had not yet looked inside. I opened it. It was empty. The heavens opened up and the angels sang. I grabbed that notebook and pulled it to my chest and smiled so big (I didn’t even need my coffee to smile this morning). You would have thought I had just found a pearl of great price! This girl was happy!
I had not even realized how attached I was to my plain old spiral notebook. Immediately, I began my first entry in it with a prayer of praise to my God. It was an awesome gift for me from Him this morning. It was like finding the keys to the car after a mad frantic search. It was like finding the phone after the panic has done set in… because it’s lost and you know it’s on “silent”.
I think sometimes God lets us miss something long enough just so we can remember how truly valuable it is…
My plain old spiral notebook is like my way of communication with my God. It’s my burning bush. It’s my Urim and Thummim. It’s my quiet escape into the mountain. It’s my inner room. It’s my Holy of Holies.
Yep, my plain old spiral notebook … technology will never be able to replace it 🙂