Journaling

Although I've just recently begun blogging, I've journaled in other formats for years. I've never been good at keeping a diary for more than a short time before I get bored and give it up. I found short-term diaries more satisfying, such as trip diaries. I learned that after a little time passed (sometimes a very little time), I no longer could keep straight just when we were where, what we did on each day, where that neat little place we stopped to eat at was located, or even what year it was when we made a certain trip. But all I have to do is pick up the trip diary and start reading and it comes back.

I've always loved family photos. They are a window to a moment that will never come again, the record of our lives. My photo books have morphed into photo journals. I don't write a lot to accompany the pictures, but I write enough to remind me of the events surrounding the photos.

Another form of journaling that I've being doing for several years involves my personal Bible study. I've found that I get much more meaning from my reading if I journal as I read. It fixes my attention; it keeps my mind from wandering. Before I started using journaling I could read a whole chapter and really take in only a sentence or two before my mind took off following a new path. The words went and the words went out. Only a phrase or two was retained. But, if I journal as I read, my mind stays with what I'm reading. I find that I notice things in the text that I would probably have simply glossed over otherwise. When I reach a section, such as the "begats" or the descriptions of how the ancient Israelites performed their sacrifices, that usually would put my mind into a coma, I discover there are little nuggets of interest even there. If I journal I am forced to THINK! Sometimes the journaling on a certain passage can take me down thought trails I would not have paused to pursue otherwise.

Words are powerful, even my own words to and for myself.