SCRAPS, POST-ITS AND LEGAL PADS

I have an office at home.  Barren as it is with only a desk, lamp, chair, filing cabinet, shredder, my clothes hamper (why is that in there anyway!), the ironing board and iron, and a picture.  I have a great desk, a padded chair that still hurts my butt if I sit on it too long, but it's a great place to sit and write.  For whatever reason though, many days, I gravitate to the kitchen counter with my laptop and a stool.  It's where you'll find my dictionary laying most of the time and a file folder.  It's a place to keep things I am working on, thoughts,  ideas, etc.  One of my sisters was over recently and commented on my hoards of sticky notes, scraps of paper, corners of restaurant table paper that had a few words or sentences on laying willy nilly everywhere.  She suggested (she is more orderly than am I) a tablet to keep thoughts or writing ideas more organized.  I told her it was a great idea, and it is.  I knew I would never do it though.  I like my system, if that's what I can liberally call it.  Each of those scraps of paper denotes a time when I thought that thought.  A corner of the restaurant table paper was when I was eating with a friend.  The post-it note with a book title on it came from the suggestion of a friend on a book that I should read.  On the blue sticky note I have had for years, is written one of things I want my life to look like, "To fully use the crayons God has given me to express and influence."  I even have a couple of steps I created for the 12 Step Recovery Program For Mennonites written on a corner of a piece of paper towel (not sure where I was when I wrote them down).   Then there is the issue of my legal pad.  It originated when I was not near my laptop and wanted to write a length of something that wouldn't fit on a scrap, post-it or corner of paper towel.  I have pages and pages in it written in continuation of prayers, dialogue and questions I need to discuss with someone, parts of blog posts written over lunch while at work.  But, then I have pages and pages of strange things randomly scribbled together; job postings to research, something I need to remind myself of, a song title to look up on ITunes, 4 things I needed to pick up at Lowes, two words that I don't know why I wrote-momentarily derailed (I think that is what I am), a thought to tie into this post, other post ideas, a few thoughts I had in my head regarding a conversation I had recently had.  They are not written in order or grouped by likeness.  What I have done is create pages of scraps, post-its and corners of paper towels written on a yellow legal pad.  I was thinking how valuable those scraps are to me.  So much so, that I put them in my file folder because they are important to me and I know, because of their value, I will use the thought, read the book, ask the question to the person.  I am aware they are there and re-read them frequently to see if I can use one of them presently.  My thoughts scribbled on scraps of paper led me to the wailing wall in Jerusalem.  It is actually part of the western wall of the temple - where the Jews believed God resided on earth.  People from all backgrounds make the journey there for its spiritual significance and to pray about something that is important to them.  Many times, the prayer or need or cry to God is written on a scrap of paper, rolled up and stuck in the cracks in the remaining stone wall.  What a great visual!  Scraps of paper, post-its so to speak, carrying someones heart in written form to God.  I wondered about God needing a more organized system, say a big spiral bound tablet with category of pages for certain requests.  What I love about my God is that disorder means nothing to him.  Scraps written for hundreds of years and tucked in the small crevices are a language of importance to Him.  He doesn't get hung up on the system, or the delivery of the cry or need to him, just that it is important to Him.  I like to think of God as a God of our post-its, scraps of paper and corners of paper towels.  The thing is He saves them all.  The Bible says that God keeps track of our prayers and tears in a bowl, they are valuable to Him.  Isn't that cool!  A bowl is way more classy than a file folder.