In an earlier post, Beth Ann talked about having a journal. Many people do. They keep lists of people they are praying for, prayer requests, and answers to pray. That’s a fine thing to do. However, just as there are many ways to pray, there are many ways to journal.
Although I like to write, for many years I could not seem to succeed in keeping a journal. Why? I guess I had the idea that my journal should be full of my “best” writing. Or my journal had to be a way to organize my prayer life. Then in a class on spiritual direction, I was told, “remember, your journal is just for you. Nobody else has to read it.” That was freeing … now, as the post title indicates, my journal is a jumble. I write down Bible verses that strike me, quotes from books, or ideas that pop into my mind. I save newspaper articles, Sunday bulletins, movie tickets, notes from friends and other things that I like or that remind me of what I was doing, feeling and thinking. It usually takes me over a year to finish a journal and I now have about ten. It’s enlightening to look back and see where I was spiritually and how far I’ve come. It reminds me of how God has cared for me through all sorts of problems, always providing the insight, people and activities to move me along in my journey.My journal is truly “just for me.” I doubt if it would make sense to anyone else.
Here are some ideas I’ve heard about journal keeping:
- Draw in your journal
- One friend I knew wrote her prayers in blue ink, and the answers she felt she was hearing from God in red
- Write prayers instead of speaking them
- When you find a bible verse, quote, song lyric, picture, bit of nature that speaks to you, put it in your journal
- Write down ideas and spiritual insights as they occur to you
- Take sermon notes, your Pastor will love you!
Your journal can become your personal way of speaking to God. Make it a prayer. Happy Journaling!
Lutheran Ladies Connection 