Sticky Notes

 In 1850 Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote the Novel, The Scarlet Letter.  It's a novel about a woman who was made to wear the Scarlet Letter 'A' on her clothing to reveal publicly a sin she committed in private.  Can you imagine?  What if that was required of us today?

"I told a lie."  Sticky note 'L' is placed somewhere on my clothing.

"I spread gossip."  Sticky not 'G' is placed somewhere on my clothing.

Do you see the picture?

Yesterday I wrote about badges, but there is a difference between badges and Scarlet Letters.  Badges are what we place on ourselves.  Scarlet Letters are what we place on others.

Let me explain:

A friend of yours betrayed your trust.  You then write the letter 'B' on an invisible sticky note, and you place it on the clothing of your friend.  Every time you see that friend, you are reminded of the betrayal.

But let me ask you, was the betrayal recent, or something that happened years ago?  Did your friend apologize for the betrayal?  If so, it's time for you to remove the sticky note from off the clothing of your friend and move on.

I hear stories all the time of people being known for something they did 10, 15 or even 20 years ago. Why is it that we seem to freeze people in the past, and refuse to see where they are today?  How long does a person have to wear their Scarlet Letter before others will allow them to move on in their life?  And who are we to place the Letter of a Sin on someone else, when we ourselves probably carry the same sticky note on our own clothing?

Samuel Johnson once said, "God Himself, Sir, does not purpose to judge a man until his life is over.  Why should you or I?"

Psalm 138:8a says:  The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me:

I will purpose in my heart to spend less time judging others, and more time on God's work on my own life.  But that's just me!

-People know your name but call you by your sin-

God knows your sin but calls you by name.  Ricardo Sanchez, Revised