So I used to be the sort of person who did things by a schedule. I would methodically enter everything in my green nylon planner and then follow the list until I was done. My dad bought it for me on my first visit to Eddie Bauer. It also happened to be the same day I said "no way" to the Coast Guard Academy during a summer orientation seminar-but I digress. My dad has always sort of instinctively known about my "thing" for motivational quotes and concurrent addiction to office supplies. The electrical supply house where he frequently got materials for his job sites distributed little, yellow monthly calendars. No bigger than an index card, I always looked forward to the nights he would bring them home just for me. I never used them for planning, but I would excitedly look at each page-- with it a new quote. One for each day. "The average pencil is 6". The average eraser 1/2". Who said optimism is dead?" Read one of the sayings that remains etched into my brain. The better ones got cut out and diligently put into photo albums alongside clippings from newspapers of my athletic accomplishments. Inspiring words from people I would never meet, but whose words would cause me to pause and think.
I look online at quotes from time-to-time and am amazed at how many of the "inspirational quote" sites cite the Bible. (Gotta love a good homophone!) Reminders of God's faithfulness, promises of His neverending love and reminders of His omnipotent control permeate the web. Right alongside Zig Ziglar, Jack Welch, Teddy Roosevelt, JFK, and is God himself. I look at these quote sites and wonder how many people get their "dose" of God here. To know God this way is to think of him as the almightiest motivational speaker of all time. A talent whose "greatest hits" have made it to magnets for the fridge, paperweights for our desks, greeting cards for our families and pages in our desk planners.
And if God is reduced to being listed amongst presidents, actors and great businessmen, I wonder how much more inaccessible this makes Him seem. Surely none of us would read a quote in Readers' Digest and then feel empowered enough to walk up to Zig Ziglar and say "so tell me more. I read this quote and it moved me. I want to know the rest of the story!" I wonder if people read random quotes from the Word and seek out the rest of the story? Do they know the Author of these quotes and the heart behind them? You see that is precisely the difference between man and God. While famous leaders have all strived for privacy and power, God has never done so. It is not His nature. He stands ready to answer your questions...no matter how hard. He wants you to search out the rest of the story-- to put it in context and understand His desire for you to know Him...personally.
Much like my dad cared enough to pay attention to the little things, God wants to be there for us. Those little quotable calendars were no more than a marketing gimmic for Twin State Electric, but to me they were a symbol of how much my dad cared for me. He always remembered. But that didn't happen with a sound bite from his teenage daughter saying "Dad, I like those little books and I love quotable quotes. Can you arrange that for me?" What teenager strings that many words together when talking to their parents?! Dad knew because he watched. He paid attention and he learned over time. God is no different-- spending time with Him will show you just how much about you he already knows...just as it did with me and my Dad.
I believe that there are too many people now in this sound-bite age that are getting their theology off terrible TV shows, sound bites, Internet sites and blogs. They aren't making the time (because no one has any free time) to designate to finding out truth for themselves. If you have never read the Bible I would challenge you to do so. Don't let anyone else tell you what it says-- find out for yourself. Only then will you know how invaluable a well placed quote from God's word can be. "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" Psalms 119:103
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