So I've been thinking a lot about journaling. Why it's important. How it's different than a diary.
What role it plays in our walk with the Lord. Allow me to convince you a tad.
3 years ago I hardly enjoyed writing notes in church. I couldn't stand writing. I hated the style of my handwriting, and would cringe every time I saw it. When I went on a Journey to the Heart in 2011 there was a girl on my team who wrote down everything. When I went to school this past winter, there was another girl in my class who wrote everything down, so much so, if you had a conversation with her- she'd write it down... word for word. It's inspired me over the years. I started to journal when I arrived home from my Journey. Since then I've filled up 2 & 3/4 journal books. It's amazing to see the improvement in my handwriting over the course of time. My favorite part, though, is to be able to see some of the feelings that I've had. Thoughts and promptings from Jesus that struck the core of my being and I had to write it down. My first journal holds very heart-wrenching feelings that I had after my
Here are a few wonderful things about journaling;
-If you started young, you can look back and read over memories that you haven't thought about in years. Christmas, birthdays, weddings from a child's perspective. First crushes from when you were 10ish. You name it. The thoughts and memories are more written like they would be if it were a diary. But, hey, It's something to look back on.
-You get better handwriting and apparently better at grammar. (Don't look at my grammar I just hear it gets better).
-Poetry tends to flow from the depths of your soul as though you are from the 1800s speaking to a scholar. It's great. This goes for text messages to family members, notes to friends, or when you're blogging. I told my brother the other day that lunch was ready. Although I didn't tell him like that.
"Your luscious meal is served. Please come wash up and be ready to dine with lady Margaret of Fulton County, Georgia, madam Genevieve of Anchorage, Alaska, Madam Joy of River Dale, Georgia, and lady Martha of Fulton County, Georgia. We are please to welcome you, Sir Joshua of Atlanta, Georgia for some southern fried chicken!"
Yeah it took me about 10 minutes to tell him lunch was ready.
-When you're discouraged you can look back over old entries and be challenged by your own words about what God has done in your life.
-You won't forget commitments made to the Lord. Far too often I make a commitment to the Lord and then forget it after a few months of failure. When I write it down immediately then I tend to write in detail. In such detail, really, if I read over it I literally have the same exact emotions come back as they did when the Lord convicted me.
-Remember that yummy dinner that you just cooked tonight but didn't really follow the recipe and made it your own? Write it down in your journal.. doodle a little. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 It's great.
- You get really good at drawing. Serrrriously. You start out not being able to draw a good circle to looking up one day and actually being able to draw a cute cupcake. It's not the mona lisa, but you're so proud of that cupcake that it might as well be the mona lisa... sort of.
-You really do begin to glow more from the inside out. Your quite times are spent pouring over scripture, word definitions from the greek and hebrew, and pouring out your heart to God on paper. It's splendid.
-Draw illustrations to clarify doctrine or to add personality to your studies.
-Add Color to Your Journal. You can create a color coding system i.e. Green entries are for promises, Red colored writing for warnings, and yellow for commandments from God's word. Or just use color for visual creativity. Keep a supply of pencils, pens, highlighters, and colored pencils near your journal for easy access. When applicable add images, stickers, and lesson handouts to your pages.
-Include any questions or promptings you may have as you're studying, in your journal.
-Record references (Chapter, Verses, Authors, etc.) for future reference and further study.
-Hear a story that perfectly illustrates a point of doctrine? Don't forget it. Record it in your journal. You'll be glad you did.
-Highlight, Enlarge, underline, frame, or bold words that stand out to you as important.. or to make your handwriting more creative and artsy.
-Draw a map in a corner of your current position if you travel a lot. This will test your drawing skills, and also remind you of where you were. If you can't draw worth a flip- get a post card and tape one edge on the paper you would write on. Then write your normal entry on the post card. You only want to tape one edge of the post card so that you can flip it up and see the picture part of the card.
-Write with a white colored pencil or white crayon. The white pencil will make your handwriting neater, though. Once you're written your whole entry, paint over it with water colors.. or don't and put a note anywhere on the page that says to paint/color over it. It's the invisible ink thing.. yep. It's cool.
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| Not my image |
-Write a paragraph horizontally and then write a few tiny paragraphs vertically. Resume writing horizontally after you've reached the side of your paper.
-Fill up a whole page with a quote or Bible verse with different fonts/handwritings.
-Stain a page with coffee. Take a paint brush, dip it into coffee, paint the whole page, and let it dry by using a hair dryer. Or if you like this look, paint the bottom rim of a coffee cup with coffee and then promptly stamp it onto the page. This is one of my favorites. Just went out to coffee with a friend and enjoyed your conversation? This would be a great time to stamp the coffee rim to a page.
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| Not my image -Buy a calligraphy pen. Learn to use it before you write in your precious journal. These pens will leak everywhere and you won't know it until you have run your hand over the dots and cause ugly streaks over your page. It's sad. I did that once. |
-Understand that your first journal will most likely be your worst but favorite journal ever. The handwriting is bad, decoration choice is off, but yet- you'll look back and love the chances you took to become creative. So, don't be afraid to buy an awesome journal and actually start using it. You won't get better until you try it out.
If you're a parent. I highly recommend journalling for your kids until they get to the age they can write pretty well. Then when they can, make it a school assignment or something. They'll eventually love it. Then when they're old enough, they'll have journals from when they were really little that you wrote, and then they'll pick it up from there.
Well, if you're not convinced yet, then I'm sorry. You're missing out on such a fun art.
Be happy.
~Jo
