Join Me On the Journey

What do you think of when you hear the word “journal?” Do you think of the diary that you kept in junior high? (Dear Diary, today I saw Doug again in study hall. He’s such a cutie!) Do you think of an assignment in English to keep a journal for the semester? (yuck!) Do you think of The Diary of Ann Frank? (”…despite everything, I still believe that people are basically good at heart”) Do you think “That’s just one more thing to do in my already overloaded day?”

A journal can be anything that you want it to be.

Simply, a journal is a personal record of thoughts, experiences, and reflections kept on a regular basis. You define what thoughts, what experiences, what reflections, and what a regular basis means to you. There is no right or wrong way to keep a journal. Except, not to keep one.

Why do I say that?

Well, first of all, there is power in writing it down. I know you have heard that before, but it’s true. Why does a cliche become a cliche? Because it’s true!

A journal can be as simple as a written list of goals that you regularly revisit. You can have a “quiet time” journal; a place you write down the thoughts you have during your Bible reading or prayer or meditation or Bible study. You can have a day book; a place where you write down the things you accomplished that day. Experiment and find what works best for you. You can even have more than one journal.

Having a journal can be an excellent way of developing discipline in your life.

When you pick a point and draw your line in the sand and say, “Today is the day that things are going to change for the better in my life,” writing regularly in a journal is a way to begin to develop discipline in your life and also a way to look back and see how far you’ve come in your journey.

So, do you keep a journal? Why or why not? Click the “comments” link below and tell us about it.

I will warn you that I’ll be regularly revisiting this question. I know that I’ve made mention of it in other posts–directly and indirectly. I believe that it is such an important point, I want to encourage you to consider it and act on it.

Today, if you don’t have a journal, pray about it. Ask God to reveal what benefit you could receive from writing it down. After all, the written word is one of the ways He chose to reveal Himself to us.

Buy a pretty journal at a bookstore or a discount store or a dollar store. Or, buy a composition notebook (if you don’t already have one around the house). Or, just “borrow” a spiral notebook from one of the kids.

Begin to write things down and you’ll find that a journal can become a vital tool for implementing change in your life!

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