Confessions of a Post-It Junkie

"When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people;

as I grow older, I admire kind people."

-Abraham Joshua Heschel

In 1974, a man named Art Fry sang in the choir of his St. Paul, MN church. Art had a problem. The paper he used to mark his place in the hymnal frequently went flying across the choir loft, leaving him scrambling to find his place. (Can anyone relate?) One day, inspiration struck. Art, a product development researcher at 3M, remembered the not-so-sticky adhesive created by a colleague and wondered if it might be useful for 'temporarily permanent' bookmarks. And so, the Post-It Note was born.

Initially sold in pads of 250 sheets, the light-yellow Post-It Notes were an immediate success, selling over 50,000,000 pads in their first year of production. Post-It Notes are among the simplest but most genius of inventions, and I must confess that “I am a Post-It Junkie.” At any given time, my work desk has at least a half dozen (or more) post-its containing: to-do lists, important phone numbers, the name of a song I just heard on K-Love, miscellaneous messages, deadlines and dates to remember, shopping lists, doodles and various other info - from the essential to the insignificant. They have even crept in to my home. At times they can be found adhered to the refrigerator, bathroom mirror, my Bible, schoolbooks and even my purse. I fear that these cute little pieces of paper could just take over my world, but I am reminded that my “clutter” is now organized (almost) and has to serve a purpose, otherwise it’s out of here!

It’s Friday, Let’s Sparkle... action required... God has promised to write His Word upon our hearts. Since we’ve been talking about the importance of scripture, and speaking words of encouragement, I thought it might be fun to grab a pad of Post-It notes and set out on a mission. Why not write some random notes, containing ....

• Reminders to ourselves of how much God loves us
• Scripture verses we want to memorize or share with others
• Prayer requests as we are doing our daily devotions
• Messages to our kids telling them how proud we are of them, or how much we love them
• Encouraging words for our co-workers
• Thank you notes to someone at the drive-thru window, or for the bank teller (put in the bank cylinder after your transaction is done)
• A blessing left in a public restroom (have a great day)
• Post-It your Pastor’s car: Have a class of Sunday School students write short, encouraging notes on Post –Its. Use examples like these to get them thinking: “Thank you for loving Jesus,” or “I like how you smile when you see me,” or “How did you get so smart?” Give the students 5 minutes to write as many as they can. Then go out and cover the car (or have a volunteer do it for you.) Make sure to take a picture of the mischief!

When we search for ways to “sparkle,” we need to remember that sometimes, it’s the smallest things that can make the biggest impact. Think about it... How would you feel if you got in your car to drive to work and there was a post it on your steering wheel that said, “Have a great day!” or “God Loves You!” As one K-Love disc jockey always says, “Little things don’t mean a lot, they mean everything.”

Check out this video to see one guys “Post-It Adventure” ...  http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=EMBECNNU

My mission this weekend is to keep my eyes open to the people around me. I’m hoping to find lots of great opportunities to “post a note” and share God’s love! By the way, in case you didn’t know it, this is “Random Acts of Kindness Week.” This story brought to you as a reminder to be thankful for the little things in life - like Post-it® Notes.

God’s Peace, Donna Weaver

"Do something wonderful, people may imitate it."

- Albert Schweitzer