Proverbs 3:3

 

Tablets. Many of us have one. Or two. Or some other type of electronic device that we access...hourly, dare I say, or every time it beeps at us? No longer are we bound to books, cds, Sunday morning services. We have instant access to whatever it is that our minds are thinking of. And, if you are like me, my mind thinks of more than one thing at a time. Fortunately, thanks again to our modern cyber world, our tablets, computers, phones, and so on can handle this. Too well, sometimes. I make digs at my daughter for always having her "appendage" at her fingertips. My son-in-love can hear of something he actually doesn't have all the answers to and before I know it, he has either googled it or found some app for all one could care to know about the subject.

 

The tablet of your heart is mentioned in this verse. A heart is always with you. Full of memories, full of instructions and admonitions, full of life. Reminders are there and come from any and everything. I notice almost every time I smell diesel gas how it takes me make to my farming days and riding behind the tractor, setting tobacco. When I would take my grandsons to preschool, the smell of the hallways of the concrete portion of the church always took me back to my days at Mars Hill College. I have a platter or two in my cabinet and each time, no matter how hard I fight the memories, the sight of them always makes me think of fudge and how my mother would make it for my siblings and me. There's a song, "There is Always Something There to Remind Me." Do you know it?

 

I walk along the city streets you used to walk along with me
And every step I take reminds me of just how we used to be
Well, how can I forget you, girl?
When there is always something there to remind me
Always something there to remind me

As shadows fall, I pass a small cafe where we would dance at night
And I can't help recalling how it felt to kiss and hold you tight
Well, how can I forget you, girl?
When there is always something there to remind me
Always something there to remind me

I was born to love her, and I will never be free
You'll always be a part of me

If you should find you miss the sweet and tender love we used to share
Just go back to the places where we used to go, and I'll be there
Well, how can I forget you, girl?
When there is always something there to remind me
Always something there to remind me

I was born to love her, and I will never be free
You'll always be a part of me

'Cause there is always something there to remind me
Always something there to remind me
Always something there to remind me

 

 

Memories. Visual images. Smells. Sounds. Ahh the sounds. Songs can take me back to so many places.

 

We all have the things that attract us to remembering things. Whatever they may be, they should all in some way point us back to the statutes, the truths, the love that God has shown to us. "Let love and faithfulness never leave you: bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." Do we really need to be reminded to love, to be faithful? Well, yeah. How great would it be when we mess up or start to cross a line for our tablets/electronic devices/phones to beep at us, to warn us that a storm is coming, like our weather apps do? What if we had a special ringtone for an upcoming event that alerted us of an upcoming opportunity to serve, to be faithful to the things of our God? My SIL is a paramedic and the 911 system is what leads him to each call. What if we had a 911 system on our heart tablets, telling us we were needed? Many of the calls he answers are actually ones where the "patient" just needs some attention, some assistance. He doesn't know this when he sets out; he just responds. As Christians, isn't that supposed to be our reaction too: to just respond? Whether by listening, offering a helping hand, or just sharing life with someone, it is our duty to be faithful, to love.

 

So, the next time you are near your own personal appendage, give it a closer look. Check out its many apps. Which ones do you use the most? Which are most helpful? Which are most likely to distract you from the things around you rather than reminding you that these things are in need of love, of attention? Use your tablets for good, won't you? Oh sure, mine has the Bible things on it too. We can justify anything, if we try hard enough. However, let's use our tablets for their purpose and not let them bind us to them. Let's pray:

 

Dear God, I confess to You right now that I am too often a slave to technology. I spend more time on this thing that is supposed to make my life easier, to make me more knowledgeable, to direct me to the hot and happening places, but in truth keeps me more impersonal and less likely to see what is going on around me in my own little world while I am surfing the World Wide Web for things to amuse me. Help me, God, to use my tablet wisely. And the next time I get a ping, or a whistle, or some other sound to alert me to something, may I instead pretend that that is a personal message from You, reminding me to be loving, to be faithful, to be aware of situations that are in need of one of Your kids' help.

 

Thank You for the advances in life that I appreciate and that indeed do make my life simpler. May I use the Bible apps to study Your Word more. May I use the music features to hear songs that edify You. May the photos and videos I post be ones that make You smile and not be ones that might offend others. When I tweet, may I—like a bird—tweet things that are honorable, admirable, true, right, and honest. Help me, please, Father, to bind Your words and truths in my heart and then to apply them to my life. In Jesus' Name I pray, amen.