Taking Note(s)

I take a lot of notes. Someone recently asked me if it's for songwriting. Yes, but no. I've been writing songs for less than 10 yrs, and I've been scribbling in my Bible as long as I can remember. It goes way, way back to when I was a little girl.

One time my friend and I accidentally switched Bibles. Remember the one? The Living Bible. It was a Children's Church giveaway, if you memorized Psalm 23. Or was it the Lord's prayer? Hmmm...I can't recite either one very well. But the Bible was green and had a picture of a shepherd and some sheep on it. Easy to mix up.

A few weeks passed before I saw HER name engraved on it. Boy, was I was going to be in big trouble. She didn't even keep a bookmark in her Bible, much less WRITE in it! And I'd written all kinds of stuff in there.

In the back, across from the maps: Let God's word be your map. Next to Psalm 23: think about the Shepherd, not the other sheep! In the margin, next to Romans 3:23: "This means YOU!" I was so embarrassed when I had to trade Bibles back, knowing I'd ruined hers. I wish she'd written "You're a stinker" or some other truth in my copy!

Anyways, this blog isn't about whether we should take notes or not. It's not to try to convince you that you should. A person who carries a notepad and pen is no better than a person who can absorb life without writing one word. And vice versa. This is about a sermon I heard, probably when I was 10 or 11.

It was a sermon of all sermons. I've gotta admit that I remember too few sermons. That's exactly why I take notes...so I don't forget. My pastor at Friendly Baptist had some doozies. I wish I'd paid attention to more of Brother Milton Gardner's life and teaching. But what I can remember, well, even if it's only because I'd written it down in that Bible, it was still life-changing. Stay with me.

This one sentence is etched into my memory: "Some people get all they can, can all they get, and sit on the can."

Ouch! I'm pretty sure Brother Gardner was preaching on stewardship. Ouch.

But it could also apply to other areas of life. This is extreme, but stay with me. Fill in the blank. "Some people get all the _____ they can, can all they get, and sit on the can."

Do you get all the attention you can, tuck it away (as if you can store that up!), and then rest on your laurels?

When something is on sale, do you buy all of it so no one else can have that same deal? Can't bear to leave any on the shelf as a provision for other families? Do you belong on TLC's Extreme Couponing, or more appropriately, Hoarders? I'm not accusing you, or attacking you...I'm asking you to reconsider your motivations...

Do you take wrong thoughts, perhaps even false guilts, and tuck them away, accepting them as truth, and then dwell on them?

Do you get in all the entertainment that you possibly can, squeeze it into your "things I did last weekend" aka bragging list, and think that pursuing the things of the world will serve you well? Stay with me.

Do you have a skill or talent that you have developed, but either keep it to yourself, or for some reason or another, you've buried it? - and now you're sitting on it, thinking no one cares? God cares. If it's cooking, cook for the Lord. Feed the poor. Could be music. Or wisdom with finances. Or a strong back. Or a giftedness with words. Or the ability to sit with someone who is in pain. Or availability. It could be so many different things. You see what I mean? Why are you hiding that?

Do you get all the bitterness and resentment you can, stuff it away, and then guard it with your very life?

Do you get all the Bible knowledge you can, store it away (not applying it to your life), then sit down, at ease?

For your life, today, fill in the blank: "Some people get all the _____ they can, can all they get, and sit on the can."

"Some people get all they can, can all they get, and sit on the can." - Milton F. Gardner. In a sermon that still preaches loud and clear, 35 years later.