Paper was truly a wonderful invention, but sometimes I think I’m drowning in it. I did get up before 6 to write today but then found this piece of paper I needed to put with something else, then, of course, one thing leads to another, and I find old papers I had forgotten about and here I am.
There was a New Yorker cartoon several years ago of one cave man looking at another who has just written on a rock, looking around at the rest of the rocks stored in his cave, asking, “But where are you going to put it?” Paper is more convenient, to be sure, and it does take up less space. But it can accumulate, like the caveman’s rocks.
Then there is the Christmas card from more than 20 years ago thanking me for the family’s asylum grant, not to mention the old typed page of my mother’s genealogy. How can anyone throw those away? Every December I promise myself I will go through papers and discard what is not important. What’s important the heart holds onto.
Prayer for the Day
Representing fragments of our lives, we look through old cards,
Remembering times past and hoping for times to come;
Holding memories, we look forward to your promise of new life,
As we strive to reflect your gifts to us in this world.
May we embrace the promise of this Advent Season, O God,
And live your promise through our generosity to others.
In the name of the One who was always generous,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Every day I shall put my papers in order and every day I shall say farewell. And the real farewell when it comes will only be a small outward confirmation of what has been accomplished within me day by day.
- Etty HIllesum, Dutch Jewish diarist, murdered at Auschwitz (1914-1943)
When I’m 60, maybe, I’ll look over my pile of papers and wonder, what really happened that year?
- Christa McAuliffe, teacher/astronaut, died in Challenger explosion (1948-1986)
The vision of this has become for you like the words of a sealed document.
If it is given to those who can read, with the command, “Read this,”
They say, “We cannot for it is sealed”
And if it is given to those who cannot read, saying “Read this,”
They say, “We cannot read.”
Isaiah 29: 11-12