The Quote Wall

Joni Lynn Schwartz
May 14
2 min read

In college my friends and I had a quote wall. Really, it was just our fridge covered with scraps of paper, napkins, sticky notes, and anything else we could find to write on.

Whenever someone said something funny, ridiculous, or completely off, it ended up on the fridge. To this day, I still laugh thinking about the time my roommate asked the waiter what a “super salad” was instead of realizing he had said “soup or salad.”

At the time it just felt funny. Looking back, I think we understood something important without even realizing it: writing things down helps us remember.

We write grocery lists so we don’t forget the milk. We write down appointments and to-do lists so we can get all the things done. And lately, I’ve been realizing that writing down the Bible helps me remember too.

It’s been over a month since I started handwriting the Bible. I finished Genesis and have now started Exodus. Somewhere between setting aside time every day, and slowly writing each word on the pages, I’ve noticed something changing. I’m not just reading the words anymore. I’m remembering them differently.

As I’ve worked through Genesis and now into Exodus, I’ve noticed how often God’s people repeated the stories of what He had done. The history is told again and again because remembering mattered. God wrote the Ten Commandments on stone tablets. He established memorials and instructions for His people so they wouldn’t forget His faithfulness once life moved on and distractions crept in.

God tells His people to remember.

“Remember the wonders he has done…” — Psalm 105:5

Because people forget.

We forget prayers that were answered. We forget how God walked us through hard seasons before. We forget truth when fear, stress, or distraction shout louder than our faith.

Maybe that’s why God tells His people to remember so often.

Turns out my college roommates and I were onto something with that quote wall. Writing things down helps us hold onto what matters.