Weekly Thought – August 4, 2026
Fred “changed his address from earth to heaven” on August 17, 2007. It is one of the few times in the year of weekly thoughts, his daughter and BWF President Brenda steps out and makes personal remarks. Dad’s desire to be helpful, productive, and useful marked his entire life. The thousands of pieces of paper in my BWF files attest to Dad’s belief in writing everything down he believed worth remembering. I am most grateful for this habit, for it makes breakfastwithfred.com and the Weekly Thought possible.
Some of my most prized possessions are letters from him. A few were pages long; many others were ripped off scraps of paper with simply a scripture reference or a phrase, but all were sent to encourage me on the way .Thank you for sharing in the legacy of his God-given wisdom. Continue to stretch others and as he would say, “write it down.”
Selective “Selectric” Thinking
Writing gives one many advantages: clarity in our thoughts, precision in our words, additional tools for thinking, and organization in our presentation. A writer doesn’t have to be a literary stylist. You must decide what you need to say, how you can best do it, and of course, always determine your purpose for saying anything at all. Speaking has always come more naturally for me, although I work very hard at honing my skills. Having a message is critical to both writers and speakers. My good friend, Zig Ziglar, tells of the young man who rushed up to him almost breathless, “I want to do just what you do!” “Well, young man, what is your message?” “Oh,” he answered, “I don’t have one, but I can get one – I want to be on stage.” Writing is like that because you have to have a message.
Brevity is a beneficial byproduct of writing. In ordinary business writing we must be our own editors. Most want more space than they deserve. Rewriting is a courtesy to the reader and to us when making decisions. Concise writing indicates clear thinking. Writing it down burns the fuzz off.
I strongly recommend making notes of what you hear. Retention is better and they spur our own creative thinking. Notes are a storehouse for future reference. Over the 46 years of association with Maxey Jarman I took voluminous notes. What better source of reading than the ideas you have been impressed with enough to capture? No one has a good enough memory to recall one-tenth of all the good and helpful things we hear. Write them down.
May I say a warm word for letters? I may have written a few thousand personal letters in my life. It is my joy and curse. I probably think more letters than I actually get down for I thoroughly dislike courtesy only, fluffy ones. “Smith’s Night Letters” are typed with two fingers on my old IBM Selectric with a continuous roll of paper fed through the back. Sometimes a friend gets two inches of letter. Other times, they get one three feet long! I don’t have copies of those letters, but I have the memories of great nocturnal journeys spent in conversation pecking away.
This week think about: 1) How much clearer is my thinking when I write it down first? 2) Where do I do my best thinking? 3) What letter is in my mind that should be put to paper?
Words of Wisdom: “Writing burns the fuzz off our thinking.”
Wisdom from the Word: “David said, ‘All of this I put in writing as the Lord directed me and gave me insight regarding the details of the blueprints.’” (1 Chronicles 28:19 NET Bible)