Nicole's Notebook

Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.  Psalm 111:2

“Wait, wait…what was that?  What book?  Who was that again?  Let me go get my notebook.”  These were my niece Nicole’s words pretty much every time we’d have a conversation, during her visit this past Thanksgiving Break.  Shortly after her questions, she’d disappear into the dark of night or the light of day, only to reappear a few seconds later holding her little notebook and pen in her hands.  She’d open up the notebook and begin to carefully take notes about whatever it was that had caught her attention in the middle of our conversation.  She travels a lot, and wherever she goes, she takes that little notebook with her.  She uses it to record things worth noting, things she doesn’t want to forget and things upon which she would like to meditate at a later date. 

Nicole is very precious to me; and more than my niece, she is my sister and my friend.  So, it gave me great joy to have her so intently taking down my words into her book.  However, my pride was misplaced, for it wasn’t the speaker who made the words profound or relevant.  The words that ended up on the pages of Nicole’s delicate notebook were those which she recognized to be words of wisdom and truth.  The Lord has given her a keen awareness of His presence, and He who is Truth, reveals Himself to her on a daily basis, and she just doesn’t want to miss Him.

Nicole’s thirst for truth and wisdom moves her to keep a record of them whenever she encounters them.  She keeps the records in her beautiful notebook, which I started calling “Nicole’s Arab Notebook” for the intricate arabesque designs on its leather cover; and mostly as an inside joke between Nicole, my sister and I regarding Nicole’s Persian heritage from her mother’s side of the family.  (It’s a very long story for another blog entry : )

At any rate, the last night of her visit, Nicole and I watched the movie The Nativity.  Even though we had to get up at 4:30 a.m. the next morning, we stayed up watching the film.  This picture obviously brought up many opportunities for the Word to come alive in my living room, and of course, there it was Nicole, little-Arab-notebook and pen in hand, taking down valuable information, including mistakes that I fed her.  I told her that Micah was the last book of the Old Testament and that as the last prophet, there were 400 years of silence between him and the birth of Jesus.  All true, except that the name of the prophet was not Micah, but Malachi.  I saw her taking her notes lit only by the bluish glow coming from my TV set.  I didn’t realize my mistake until I drop her off at the airport in the morning.  I sent her a text message right away to which she replied, “good thing you told me because I had written it in my Arab-notebook!”  I said to her, “I know!  That’s why I’m sending you this message so you fix.  I don’t what you to have errors in your book!”

Watching the endearing scene of Nicole taking dedicated notes in the middle of the night, in our dark living room during her visit made me realize that is exactly what we are called to do.  That is exactly what it means to hide His word in our hearts, so we would not sin against Him.  (Psalm 119:11)  James tells us in chapter 1:22 that we are not to just “listen to His word, but we are to do what it says.”  And what better way to aide us in the task of hiding His Word in our hearts, than to write them on a notebook that we carry with us all the time to then meditate on them so they can become engraved in our brains and souls.  What better way to not just “listen” to His voice, than to record His words so we don’t forget them and can actually begin to do what they say. 

I think I need to follow Nicole’s example and get myself a little notebook this Christmas.  I want to carry it with me all the time so I can write down my daily Scripture and any meditations that may come to me throughout the day regarding that particular piece of His Word.  I don’t know if I’d be able to keep it up as an every day exercise, but I will sure try to make it into a habit, even if it turns out to be not so regular and precise.  I do want to start this Christmas season.  It sounds like a good “to me; from me” kind of Christmas present.  I don’t think mine would have arabesque motifs on it; perhaps it’ll have something more like a beach scene or something tropical on it.  But I sure hope it becomes part of me; part of who I am.  Just like Nicole is no longer herself, without her little Arab Notebook.

Nicole and I on board of a cruise that she won and had the fabulous idea of inviting me to come with!