Ever been to a restaurant and the waiter doesn’t write anything down and then off he/she goes to place the order? From the moment of ordering to the time the order comes out on the table, in perfect condition we hope, we worry a little bit about what is going to happen. The waiter thinks that he/she is really impressing us, but in most cases this backfires and we instead fret and our anxiety goes up about the whole ordeal. If the order does come back perfect we don’t say at tip time, “Let’s really tip big because of his memory”, even though that is what they think or wish is going to happen. And if the order is not right at all, then we really take it out on the waiter and say, “All he had to do was write it down”. What is interesting about this is that the power of writing something down can create confidence in others, if we let it. Just by showing the concern and taking the time to write down what we have heard or need to do, others around us get a better sense and feeling that we will follow through on what goes on the paper. There are other times when we write things down to chronicle or measure progress what has happened. Minutes of meetings, quality assurance logs, expenditures, travel reimbursements, etc. all are written records of activities for others to use and manage. Without a doubt, writing it down and recording it is important. But way less people understand this than they should. I made it clear as an expectation that everyone who worked for me would carry some sort of notebook into meetings so that when they left the action items and a record of the meeting was written down. There just isn’t enough time to go back waste others times and try and recreate a memory. God seemed to be telling Moses the same thing in Numbers 33:2; “At the Lord’s direction, Moses kept a written record of their progress.” We then go on to read in the rest of the chapter the progress that was made. Is writing it down, somehow holy? Probably not, but it is good form and practice and sometimes that is enough in the form of good advice and direction from the Bible. It reminds me that if we follow God’s directions in our lives, and in our work, that we will not be led astray.

Reference: Numbers 33:2 (New Living Testament)