The Beauty of Journaling
I don’t know about you, but one of the greatest joys in life is finding a hidden gem at your local Goodwill. One of my favorites was when I was in college, which meant Goodwill trips consisted of shuffling through hundreds of DVDs and the wall of $1 books to add to my shelf. My wife and I keep a running list of movies that would be good to own since streaming services are either expensive or lacking in the classics. But this particular trip I was scouring the hardbacks and stumbled upon a spine that read “How to Keep a Spiritual Journal,” with the name towards the bottom stating “Klug.” Now the first thing that came across my mind was this author really needs to change his name because that is really unfortunate, but as I flipped to the table of contents the topic immediately gripped my attention. God used this book to not only ground my biblical conviction of the importance of journaling, but also an incredibly practical, step-by-step process to expressing thoughts with ink.
Since buying this gem, my relationship with journaling has had its natural ebbs and flows, but there are biblical values that have stayed true which Klug emphasizes within the pages. One of these is the incredible connection between journaling and prayer. These are essentially Psalms in a nutshell. Pouring out our hearts to the Lord in a physical way that takes effort, intentionality, and deep thought-processing. Now don’t get me wrong, obviously God knows our thoughts and intentions before words appear on a piece of paper, but for me, this sometimes laborious action requires intense vulnerability. It can be compared to sharing your thoughts with a friend, where expressing our feelings either in confession or encouragement or frustration to another human being can be extremely exhausting but eternally rewarding. There is a reason why God created Eve for Adam, as humans were never meant to exist in isolation.
Journaling is a way we can get our thoughts out of our own heads and present them before our Lord, with the extra layer of some structure, flow, and conciseness. As someone who struggles to keep his thoughts under control and in order, journaling helps me categorize my thoughts so that I can attack various aspects of life with more intentionality and apply the Gospel more clearly to my circumstances. When life feels like a complete mess and my mind is overwhelmed, getting words out on the page can help bring everything back to reality, creating opportunity for peace and comfort in Christ.
I would encourage you to try it, and if you don’t know where to start, just grab some paper and a pen and in the evening write about what happened during the day. It doesn’t matter the length, the grammar, the spelling, or anything. Some people keep specific types of journals for prayer requests, quotes from books they’re reading, conversations they have with family and friends, or just daily events and observations. The opportunities are endless and I know that God can use the expression of your heart in this particular way to increase your dependence upon Him. May God receive all the glory and honor through our lives, by word, thought, deed, or ink.
PJH
