In the huge scheme of things, bookmarks do not play a very important role. They are fairly incidental — convenient but not essential. People often fuss about a mislaid book, but does anyone fuss about a mislaid bookmark?

The bookmark's exalted cousin, the book, is copyrighted, criticized, computerized, reviewed, reviled, revered, discussed, defamed, disputed, distributed, even sometimes black-marketed. It can even be burned or extinguished in a culture. But bookmarks? Who cares? Has anyone ever heard of a "burn the bookmarks" campaign?

And what intrepid little battlers they are! They outlast any thumbed-over old volume. Decades after a book has drawn its last readable breath, its bookmark is as fresh as a daisy and as new as tomorrow.

They will hound you for the rest of your life.

Did you know that a bookmark can suspend thought indefinitely? It will hold your mind at the full-stop where you stopped thinking. It can then take you back to the same moment a day, a week, a year, or even a decade later. So don't mess with bookmarks, especially the ones that carry individually designed messages. Their one-liners can rock the foundations of belief.

Usually they have an intriguing little picture at the top — just to get your attention — and below it they have their philosophy. They say things like, "You are not what you think you are, but what you think, you are." That's a conversation killer if ever there was one. You would never dare express your thoughts again with that sliding in and out of life's pages.

One of my bookmarks has the most potent screamer I have ever heard. I don't know who the author is, but I do hope he got a Knighthood or a clap of thunder or something significant. He penned, "It doesn't take much of a man to be a Christian, but it takes all there is of him."

Like I said, don't mess with bookmarks. If you do, they will hound you for the rest of your life. They will travel in and out of every page of your personal history. Mine does. (With apologies to Proverbs 23:7 and Deuteronomy 6:5!)

 

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© 2005 Elizabeth Price.

Title: "The Bookmark"
Author: Elizabeth Price
Publication Date: March 15, 2005

Look Great, Feel Great: 12 Keys to Enjoying a Healthy Life Now by Joyce Meyer Joyce guides us to a healthier way of living, reminding us that turning every issue over to God gives us the strength to make lasting changes.

Elizabeth is a team writer for "Just a Minute" e-zine.

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