Journaling – To the Glory of God

Okay, so I know this seems weird to a lot of folks… “How can Journaling be a way to bring glory to God?” But, if you will spare me a few moments of your time (and I’m assuming that by reading this blog you’re willing to do so), I will try to explain. There are a couple of assumptions that I have going into this topic, so allow me to explain them and then we’ll build out of those for me to make my argument this week.

Assumptions

Assumption 1 – Journaling is a Spiritual Discipline. If the title didn’t give you a bit of whiplash, this assumption might. How is journaling is a spiritual discipline? I have yet to make a post on the topic of Spiritual Disciplines, but, in the Spiritual Disciplines, we discipline (or train) ourselves for the purpose of godliness (1 Tim 4:7). I’ll write a more detailed post on the Disciplines at a later time, but as we approach the idea of journaling as a discipline, understand it as a means of training ourselves for godliness.

Assumption 2 – My second assumption is basically practical. I assume that you might desire to slow down a little more in our busy world. Journaling can help you do that. In many ways, this also works towards the goal of being spiritually disciplined, but even still it is a valid point. Journaling forces us to reflect, which means unplugging and slowing down.

Arguments for Journaling

Alright… so those are my assumptions. I could be wrong on them (especially the second one. Maybe you like being constantly stressed and busy? Who knows?) but I doubt it. Besides, as I have noted before, this is my blog so my assumptions on here are always right, amen? (leave me a comment below if you’d like to offer a counterpoint).

Anyway, let me make a couple of arguments for journaling that are built out of my assumptions above.

First, journaling as a Spiritual Discipline aids us in a few other areas of discipline:

1. It helps us as we work on the discipline of bible reading, memorization, and meditation. Consider how writing down the verses that you are working on memorizing will aid not only in memory, but also in the sentence structure of that particular verse (how it works, how it’s written, the point it’s making, etc…). Journaling can help as you think through a particular verse or passage as you write down your own thoughts and struggles with bringing yourself under the authority of Scripture.
2. It helps us as we work on the discipline of prayer. Similar to above, if you write down not only your prayer requests, but even your prayers, it helps your mind work through what you’re thinking and saying. Now, a lot of us Protestants have issues with written prayers because it “quenches the Spirit” and spontaneity of prayer. While I won’t write an entire treatise on how I disagree, I will note that this statement assumes that we cannot learn from other believers who have struggled and prayed and grown in the Lord over the history of humanity. Consider the Psalms or the prayers of Paul in the NT, or the Lord’s Prayer. Consider the entirety of the work of Confessions by St. Augustine. Consider the prayers of the Puritans. Written prayers aid in discipleship… write yours down and use the written prayers of others.
3. Another way that journaling aids in the disciplines is that it helps you to remember how God has worked in your life over the years. Not only can you go back and see the work of God in your life, but you can also do the same for other believers. I’ll offer two points on this to help in encouraging you to keep a journal – First, imagine coming across a journal kept by a loved one long dead. Would you not relish the opportunity to “hear” from them again? Your descendants can benefit from your journaling in years to come just as much as you can benefit from it today. Second, some of the most well known Christians in human history have kept journals that we can now read. Spurgeon, Edwards, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, etc… etc… Not to mention, if we’re being honest, the biblical writer Luke (have you read Acts of the Apostle’s? Most of it was from Luke’s own journal). Journaling aids in remembering the works of God in the life of His people.

Second, if you’re like me, you type (or text) more than you write. Journaling forces me to slow down and work on my penmanship (though it’s not improving at all). Journaling forces me to look away from a screen as I consider the day either ahead of me or just completed (current blogging not withstanding).

Journaling also forces me to consider what I have done throughout the day – was it fruitful work or a meaningless waste of time? If you ask my poor wife, I stress over this more often than I should. I want to be productive with my short time on earth. And while I love gaming and binge watching shows on streaming services as much as the next person… what am I leaving behind that brings glory to God if all I’ve done today is stream season 2 of The Mandalorian?

Ways to Journal

Alright, let’s get to the practical. I’ve convinced you to try journaling, so where do you start? I’m going to offer a couple of different ways that are hopefully easy to help give you a good running start. Later in the year I plan to write a second post on this topic and give you a “year in review” on my own journaling habits and setting goals for 2022.

Let me offer you 3 easy ways to get started.

1. Composition Notebook – We can expand this to any lined notebook, but this is probably the simplest way to get started. I mean, who doesn’t like the look and feel of opening a brand new notebook? But here the best way could be to simply use it as a prayer journal as mentioned above, or to keep track of what you’ve done over the course of the day, or write down in one or two short sentences a few things that you learned that day. Write down a bible verse that you’re memorizing or that struck you during your daily bible reading. The point here, and with this medium, is to just get started.
2. Blogging – This is a great, and free, way to start getting your thoughts down somewhere. My own host site (WordPress) offers many free template options and aids in getting a blog started. Plus, it’s just fun to build a site. The benefit of blogging is that it’s always there. And, you never have to “publish” it live for others to read if that’s not what you’re looking for. Obviously this doesn’t fit within the whole screen free time aspect that I mentioned above, but blogging still forces you to slow down and to think about what you’re writing. But, if you do start a blog and want to share your thoughts with others, let us know so we can all start following you as well!
3. Bullet Journaling – Okay, this one is my personal preference. Bullet Journaling is actually known as “micro” journaling by it’s creator Ryder Carrol. You can learn all about Bullet Journaling from Ryder’s site or on the multiple YouTube channels that are dedicated to BuJo. For me, this allows me to see my month, week, and day in a simple and clean format. In many ways, at least this year, this is a planner on steroids… but it’s easy. A quick word to men – Bullet Journaling has been somewhat coopted by the ladies. By this I mean it has become very creative in ways that folks (like myself) simply do not have the skill for. So, if you decide to check out bullet journaling and you’re not the artsy type, never fear, BuJo is meant to be simple. But, it’s also meant to allow you to make it your own, which is what many of these very creative folks on YouTube have done! So… check it out, because it is very simple and a lot of fun.

As I mentioned above, I will write a second post later this year and offer some insights that I have learned from year of bullet journaling as well as share some photos of my own journal.

What about you? Do you keep a journal? What system works for you? Are you going to give it a shot after reading this post? Let me know in the comments!