How we remember:

 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

--Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (Shema)

If you ever ride in my car with me and you have something to drink, you won't be able to put it in the cup holder. My second cup holder is full. It has become what I lovingly call my "God-reminder" holder. Here is what you will find there:

• A thorn from a hawthorn bush. (You read yesterday's blog, right? No? Well-- do it!)
• A nail, about 2-1/2" long and flat, reminding me of the pain Christ endured when he was nailed to the Cross.
• A chunk of red iron rock, all the way from Australia's Mornington Bay beach. It's from the trip I made in 2010, to visit Julie and Peter-- the Rock. The one upon whom Jesus' church would be built.
• A smooth, round pebble, a smaller version, perhaps, of what David used to take out that giant named Goliath. Good reminder of what having a little faith in God can do.
• A beautiful eagle off an old keychain. Isaiah 40:31.  "Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."
• A pine cone.Not sure what the original connection was, but it holds a lot of life in a prickly little container.
• A rubber band, reminding me of the way God often stretches me in ways I would never have imagined.
• a ducky, also from an old keychain. Its eyes light up and it quacks when you squeeze it, but really, it's to go along with Ernie singing, "Put down the ducky."
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMAixgo_zJ4
  
  (How many of the guest singers can you name? They look so . . . young.) I need reminding (often) that some things need to disappear, be let go of, if I am going to move forward.
• A cross with an ugly knot in its side, and a scroll reminding me that even an imperfection is beautiful in God's eyes and can be used to his glory.

And there is an elephant hanging from the mirror, a gift from a friend. You already know about me and elephants.

So I suppose, in my own way, my God-reminder holder is my way of tying them on my hands, binding them to my forehead and writing them on my door posts.

How about you?