...you must remember this

I just took a look at my phone's reminders list. That's a lie. I just added another reminder to it.

That makes...155.

...I think I may be doing this wrong.

You may as well know, there are things that I 'collect'. I like that better than 'hoard'. But I think words are piled higher than anything else, in my rooms, my mind, and obviously, in my apps. But I realize that no one can keep up with a running list of 155 reminders on a to-do list. And one of the items on that list is to get some help getting organized (why, yes, I *do* realize how ridiculous that idea sounds, thank you). 

It makes me feel a little less guilty to find that I am in good company, with my mile-long list, and my piles of words, and my unreasonable expectations. The people of Israel needed some guidance, and Moses came down the mountain (twice, but that's another story for another day) with Ten Easy Rules for Being the People of God in the Big World. There were guidelines for living in relationship with God, and guidelines for living in community with others. Now, the people right off weren't doing a super job with those Ten, but nevertheless they commenced to creating more, and more, and more items for their list. They ended up with over 600 items on their list of laws (I am feeling better about myself already...<pats self on back>), and plunged into a continual cycle of perpetual rule-breaking, guilt, and occasional excuses.

"Which Rule do you say is the most important to keep, Teacher?" The question posed to Jesus sounds like a choose-one-of-the-600+ kind of carnival game, but Jesus wasn't playing. The thing is, he was human; and he knew no one could hold space in their head, much less their heart, for that many words, that many rules, at once. No one could remember so much information parsed out that way.

But Jesus remembered another commandment or two from the lore of the people, and he knew it would organize everything, make the confusing tangle of 'should's (and let's be honest, mostly 'shouldn't's) an attainable inclination of the spirit.

"Love God with everything in you, with your wholeness. And love your neighbor and yourself with care and grace. Can you remember these things? Sure! If you can focus your life, each day, on making these reality, you will keep the law, you will."

And two things? A reminder list with two items is a reminder list I could learn to love.

Remember.