Inscribed

I read a review today of iPhone apps that will allow you to take notes with your phone.  The gentleman who wrote the review included the features and benefits of four different apps.  I read it with interest.

As I look at my phone, I find the default Notes app, an app called Dunnit! for making lists (to feed my need to check things off), and an app called aNote, where I keep notes of things I want to remember, including a directory of "blog seeds" for when I'm looking for something to write about (ideas come to me that I don't want to forget about, so I record them here).  I also use email as a reminder system, sending myself a note to "not forget...."  I keep a record going at work of what I do each day, who I talk to, etc.  I keep a blank book with me for notes at church, and yes, I take notes during sermons (I don't want to  hear your giggle; I like doing it -- it helps me, so there). 

How do you remember?

My husband takes notes all the time for work.  He keeps a running record of his day.  When he's out and about, and wants to remember something, he writes it on his hand.  Literally.  And he remembers.

How do you remember?

I love this line from the lectionary reading from Isaiah:

49:16a See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.  Isaiah 49:16a

God will not forget us.  He has written us on the palms of his hands.  Maybe, though, "write" is the wrong word.  God has inscribed us on the palms of his hands.  When I look up the word inscribed, I come away with something more permanent than writing.  I come away with a meaning such as engraved. 

When we were first married, we had a dog named Highway.  She was a black and white Cocker Spaniel.  We found a Christmas ornament shaped like a cocker at a seasonal kiosk store in the mall.  We bought the ornament, and they engraved it with her name.  It was a terrible job, and we've always laughed that it looked like they had done it with a nail.

God has done it with a nail.  We are inscribed on the palms of his hands.  We are not forgotten.