Speaker: Darlene Sala | Series: Encouraging Words

I’ve discovered something I’d like to share with you. It’s based on the rather embarrassing fact that when I read a book I tend to forget what I’ve read.  Can you relate to that? Perhaps you’re blessed with a photographic memory, but since most of us aren’t, let me share something I’ve found to be helpful.

When I read a book I like to underscore meaningful thoughts and then in the back of the book, jot down the page number and subject so I can find the thoughts when I need them.  Then when I finish the book, I like to type up the quotes so that I have a collection of the author’s significant ideas.  It’s extremely helpful to go back years later and reread these quotations.

For instance, years ago I read the book Following Christ by Dr. Joseph Stowell. Just this morning I reread these excerpts I had typed up from his book:

 

Following Christ is a relationship that drives and defines all we are and do.  In fact, that’s what I love about followership. It’s not a project. It’s a Person. It’s a relationship to a Person who perfectly loves and cares for us.[1] Followers can reduce all of life to the question, “What is it that my Father in heaven wants for my life in this moment?”[2]

 

Those are two thoughts I’d like to remember. First, following Christ is not a project but a relationship.  And, second, life can be reduced to the question “What does God want for me this moment?”

It’s no accident when God allows you to come across an inspirational book that speaks to your heart. Save those thoughts in a notebook or computer file so you can remember them in the future.  The Bible says, “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live” (Deuteronomy 4:9). Now, don’t forget….

 

 

[1] Joseph M. Stowell, Following Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1966), 17.

[2] Ibid., 107.