Good morning…

I pull out the package of gum from my purse, knowing that on it I jotted eight words. Being at my son’s middle school wrestling tournament from 9:00 to 5:00 yesterday, I was away from my journal and away from my computer. I saw eight short words I just had to write down.

The public middle school hosting the competition had very interesting signs. At each door into the cafeteria lived these words in bold letters: ENTER. EAT. CLEAN. LEAVE. The signs made me chuckle in their simplicity. Middle school kids need reminders to be clear and repeated. Then I nearly laughed out loud when I read these words outside the bathroom: GO. FLUSH. WASH. EXIT. I would love to have been in the meeting when the administrators brainstormed those words!

Then I began thinking, it is not only middle school kids who need instructions to be simple, clear and repeated. If God would brainstorm a constant reminder for us, what would it be? Plastered on the back of our hand, on our car’s steering wheel, and beside every door in our home, might the LORD choose: PRAY. WAIT. HEAR. OBEY.?

This is what the Lord says–
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you what is best for you,
who directs you in the way you should go.
If only you had paid attention to my commands,
your peace would have been like a river,
your well-being like the waves of the sea, Isaiah 48:17-18 (NIV),

Sue