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I did it again!  I just hate it when I forget to do important things.

This time I forgot to call my niece on her birthday.  She had been feeling alone lately, so it was especially important that I connect with her. But, the day came and went and I just forgot.

Do you forget to do important things?  Often we have good intentions to send that birthday card, or make that phone call, or write that note, but we forget.  How can we remember to do those things which would brighten another person’s life?

The following suggestions might help:

• Before you get out of bed, ask God, “Whose day can I brighten today?  What will I do?”
• Ask God to remind you.
• Put a big red ? mark on your washing machine, desk, mirror or wherever you will see it often.
• Light a candle and every time you see it, be reminded that today you will remember to make that important phone call or write that note or pray for that person.
• Write a reminder on post-it-notes and place the reminders in several locations.
• Have a reminder on your phone which keeps “reminding” until you cancel.
• Put reminders on your computer.
• Spend an hour in a card shop and purchase birthday cards for all the individuals to whom you want to remember on their birthdays.  Then address them, add stamp and arrange them in some type of file (you can purchase booklets with individual slots for each month.) At the beginning of each month set out the cards for that month and perhaps add a post-it note identifying the day it should be put in the mail.
• My grandmother use to say, “Tie a knot around one finger so you don’t forget.”  My version of her wisdom is to draw a small dot with a pen on a finger—and hopefully when I see it I will remember to do the important gesture of caring.
• . . .and when you do forget—it is better to be late with a phone call or card or caring gesture than not to do it at all!  My grandma also said, “Better late than never!”

Don’t Forget.