I write things down. Unless I’m sure I’ll remember it, then I don’t write it. And then promptly forget what I was supposed to remember. But when it comes to something just so witty, or an important piece of life advice, or something particularly important to remember, I write it down right then. Why? Because I’m a nerd and I have a notebook and pen with me at all times just for that purpose.
But it’s also good for me to do. I would likely have forgotten many things had I not written them down. I go back and look at them once in a while. Some of the pieces and sentences go together. Some of them are just disparate things written hither thither and yon on whatever paper I had at the time. But all of them are important, and sometimes if I don’t think of looking at them God will prompt me to do so.
I learn new things by looking back at these notes. I re-learn old things by looking back at them. Sometimes God will point me to a Scripture reference I have jotted down and tell me to go look it up. It usually relates to the sentence it is next to, but sometimes it does not. Either way, looking at my notes (and my notes upon my notes) can actually be quite a helpful and fun learning experience. Sometimes a sentence will spark about three different blog ideas, so that’s a nice side effect.
I would recommend keeping notes yourself. Write things you read. Write things you hear people say. Write things God tells you. Write something God did for you or for someone else. Write sermon and Sunday school notes. Write down a Scripture reference to look at later. Write the whole Scripture passage itself. Write down what you learned from a Scripture. Then look back once in a while with God and see how things are now. It’s a neat and sometimes intimate way of learning with God!