messages that stick

The junk mail folder in my email account is chock full as a gigabyte can be with messages I will never read, and will never regret not reading. On the kitchen counter are shiny flyers from local supermarkets which, although useful at the moment, will be obsolete in a week's time. Our family bulletin board is decked with ski-trip reminders, completed school reports, doctor and dentist appointment cards, maps outlined in colored pencil, and an invitation to an open house -all of which are important in their own way; all of which will be eventually forgotten in the onslaught of next season's business.
Tucked between the pages of an outdated journal, shelved upstairs near my bed, are papers that mean a lot to me. One is from an influential teacher; another from a life-long friend. Others are quick scribbles on post-it notes. Some are profound, not a few are plain silly. All of them strengthen my heart when I need a boost. This can be a mean world, so I can be forgiven for hoarding a little store of pick-me-ups.
The message that outlives all these is contained in the Book of Life. The more I seek it out, the more it fills me. I would be amiss if I didn't regularly tout its benefits. I challenged myself to expound upon the first passage I opened to this afternoon, and here you have it. The line that resounds in my heart? "....I have paid the price to set you free."
Try substituting your own name in the first line for a powerful application.

Pay attention, O Israel, for you are my servant. I, the LORD, made you, and I will not forget to help you. I have swept away your sins like the morning mists. I have scattered your offenses like the clouds. Oh, return to me, for I have paid the price to set you free."

Isaiah 44:21-22 (New Living Translation)