Journaling
Journaling
In a consumer society it’s easy to accumulate experiences, believing the more we have the better! Yet experiences don’t necessarily bring wisdom, nor do they automatically transform us. We need to listen and reflect on our experiences in the presence of the Holy Spirit to learn from them. Journaling is a way of paying attention to our lives—a way of knitting the vast ball of our experiences into something with shape that attests to the state of our soul. Fredrick Buechner reminds us in Listening to Your Life that “there is no chance thing through which God cannot speak.” On the pages of a journal, in the privacy of a moment, we can take tentative steps into truth and scour our feelings, hurts, ideas and struggles before God. Over time repetitious themes, sins, compulsions, hopes and concerns emerge. We begin to recognize our besetting sins, limitations and desires. During times of transition, travel, loss, joy, illness and decision making, journaling can provide a way of processing the hopes, fears, longings, angers and prayers of our heart. It can be the place we sound off before God so we don’t sound off in an inappropriate way to others.
The ongoing nature of a journal catalogs the journey of a soul into God. It reveals how we hammer out our identity as a Christ-follower through the ups and downs of daily routines as well as in times of crisis. There is no right way to journal. You don’t need to journal every day or even every week. Find the rhythm of journaling that suits your phase and stage of life. If writing isn’t your thing, make a journal of photos or drawings or articles. Assign key words or thoughts or themes to the entries. If you don’t write well, remember that you don’t need to write beautifully or use complete sentences. Journaling is a way for you to be with God and your thoughts, not an exercise in language arts. Tell the truth to God and yourself as best you can. Review what you write on a regular basis. As you do, you will begin to recognize recurring life themes, desires, frustrations and patterns of interaction. These insights become matters for dialogue with God.
Reflection Questions
- If you live your life at full tilt, when and how do you reflect on your life and your experiences?
- How does writing help you focus or know what you think?
- If writing is not a medium you enjoy, what other ways might you process and reflect on your experiences in the presence of God?
- What is it like for you to read someone else’s published journal?
- How does the thought of someone reading your journal strike you?
Spiritual Exercises
- As you read magazines and newspapers, cut out articles or photos that touch your heart. Paste them in your journal. Use these clippings to help you pray and join in God’s care for the world.
- Develop a journal for quotes, poetry and Scripture that have touched you. Reflect on these words and their significance to you.
- If you enjoy art, create a collage journal. Express your thoughts and feelings to God through pictures, textures and colors.
- Keep a prayer journal: record requests, prayers, answered prayers.
- Make a journal for a child, a parent or a friend, recording some significant event and your prayers for them.
- Use your journal as a place for your unedited thoughts, feelings and reactions. • Out of this overflow ask the Holy Spirit to form a godly response in you. Write the response you hear from God. • Ask for grace to live out of this graced place.
- It can be helpful to divide your journal into particular sections that reflect
- your journey with God
- events of the day
- prayers for the world
- prayers for those you love
- desires of your heart
Resources on Journaling
An Ordinary Day with Jesus by John Ortberg and Ruth Barton
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney
“Several times during the day, . . . ask yourself for a moment if you have your soul in your hands or if some passion or fit of anxiety has robbed you of it. . . . Quietly bring your soul back to the presence of God, subjecting all your affections and desires to the obedience and direction of his divine will.” —St. Francis de Sales
Practicing the Presence
DESIRE | to develop a continual openness and awareness of Christ’s presence living in me |
DEFINITION | Practicing the presence is an invitation to see and experience every moment as a gift of God. It is to live alive to union with the Trinity. |
SCRIPTURE | “Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.” (Colossians 3:3-4 The Message) “The word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.” (Deuteronomy 30:14) “You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want.” (John 5:39-40 The Message) |
PRACTICE INCLUDES |
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GOD-GIVEN FRUIT |
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