|
Journaling Outside the Box
(For People Who Don't Like to Journal)
by Keri Wyatt Kent
I remember the old gentleman as slightly odd: he wore
clothes just this side of tattered, and had an edge of
that old person smell about him. Still, he was a
curiosity, somehow intriguing.
He would sit at a table in the student union, where we
students would gather to eat ice cream or nachos, study
or just hang out between classes. He always carried a
pile of index cards, held together by a thick rubber
band. On the cards, he would tell you if you so much as
looked at him, were prayer requests. He'd smile, hand
you a blank card and say, "Write down a request, and
I'll pray for you."
Most of the students at my Christian college looked on
this old prayer warrior with bemused tolerance, some
even befriended him. Many wrote down deep concerns and
were encouraged and helped by his prayers. I learned a
lot from him, although it took several years after
graduation for the lessons to sink in.
This man knew how to pray without ceasing. The cards
were always in his hands, and when he wasn't talking to
a student, he was shuffling through t cards, praying.
He also knew the power of "journaling" your prayers. And
he got us to journal (without our realizing it) by
asking us to write down our requests. That old gentleman
knew that you don't need a journal in order to journal.
Love It or Hate It
Journaling: either you love it or you hate it. Those who
love to journal, or at least are willing to make a
practice of it, often find that a journal becomes a
record of God's activity in their lives. They also
discover, by writing, truth they might not otherwise
have learned.
But maybe you don't like to write. It feels too awkward
or burdensome to write out prayers, and you're terrified
of what would happen if another person read what you
wrote.
Perhaps you think journaling means having to come up
with profound thoughts to write in calligraphy in a
beautiful blank book. Maybe you think of it as writing a
letter to God, or organizing your prayers for various
subjects in a loose-leaf binder. Yes, journaling can be
any of those things. But there are other creative ways
to journal your prayers.
If you think you simply can't journal, if you feel
intimidated by it, or if you are looking for a way to
expand your journaling horizons, here are some
unconventional ways to journal outside the box, as it
were. Careful: these can be habit forming, and might
energize your prayer life.
Prayer Cards
Index cards, like the elderly gentleman used, are
perfect for intercessory prayer requests and concerns,
or even for listing blessings. A card could read simply:
"Jane: job search," prompting you to pray for your
unemployed friend. When Jane calls and asks you to pray
more specifically, about an upcoming interview, for
example, you add that to the card.
Carry the cards in your purse or pocket, referring to
them whenever you have a spare moment. While you may not
have as much free time as that gentleman, you will often
find yourself with a few minutes to read through one or
two index cards.
Pray through the cards, one at a time, whenever you have
a few minutes during the day. For example, you can refer
to your cards while you are waiting for an appointment
or to pick up the kids from soccer practice, when you
are brushing your teeth or waiting for the coffee to
brew in the morning. Look through them during meal
times, or set aside a few minutes at the beginning and
end of your work day to pray through them.
When you see an answer to one of your prayers, make a
note about how it was answered on the same card. Soon
you will have a pile of encouraging answers to prayer.
And, in spite of yourself, you will have learned one way
to journal.
Looking at the Big Picture
Another way to write out your prayers is to draw.
Drawing is one way to engage the right side of your
brain, which unleashes creativity. From there, ideas
begin to flow.
I once sat at a Starbucks and sketched a drawing of my
coffee mug. Another time, I awoke early, and colored a
page with the colors I saw in the sunrise. There was
nothing symbolic or profound about that simple white
mug, except the simple pleasure of a quiet moment to sip
coffee and pray. There was no particular meaning
attached to the sunrise, other than the gift of another
day.
But in both cases, after coloring and sketching for a
while, I started writing thoughts and ideas and prayers
all around the drawing. Sometimes, using colored pencils
and a sketchpad, instead of a pen and spiral notebook,
gets your creativity going, and prayers will flow out of
that.
You don't have to be an artist. Even stick figures or
simple graphs can work. I have sometimes drawn something
as simple as a circle, which represents my life. Within
the circle, I answer these questions with words, lists,
or pictures: What do I want to learn? What do I want to
be? What needs my time and attention? In other words, I
am creating a visual representation of how to slice the
pie that is my life. I see my priorities, then I pray
about what God would have me change.
Another way to journal by drawing is to do a "life
review." This ancient practice of self-examination can
be updated in this simple way. Take a large sheet of
paper and some crayons or colored pencils. Draw a
timeline of your life, dividing it into decades. In each
decade, find a way to draw or represent an answer to
these two questions: "How did I see God?" and also "How
did I see myself?"
Beneath your drawing, write out a letter of confession
or thanks or whatever is appropriate, based on what you
learn from the drawing. Ask God, what is next for me?
How do I want to see God? How do I want to relate to
him?
How am I Growing?
I love to garden. Many gardeners keep gardening
notebooks, or journals. They note which plants they've
grown in which beds. They take notes on the progress of
seedlings, the effect of shade on certain plants. They
make drawings to plot out what they planted where and
what each plant looks like. They make lists of
everything: plants they'd like to try, ones they have
tried that didn't work, all kinds of landscaping
possibilities. The notebook helps a gardener keep track
of what has worked and what has not. It's a way of
organizing thoughts and learning from mistakes.
"If you get fed up with your garden looking like a
junkyard, get out your notebook," writes gardening
expert Sydney Eddison in The Self-Taught Gardener. "It
should be cheap and sturdy enough to hold up if it gets
damp. Note taking will clear your head and help you
establish garden priorities. Make your notes copious,
detailed and as specific as possible. Sometimes, the
solution presents itself when you identify the problem."
In many seasons of my life, I've used a gardening
notebook as a model for a journal. If the garden of your
soul feels like a junkyard, get yourself a prayer
notebook. It needn't be anything fancy; in fact, it
helps to have something small but sturdy that you can
carry around with you.
In my "soul gardening" notebook. I use words, pictures
or sometimes mind-mapping, with lines and circles, to
try to discern God's will on a particular topic. I copy
Scripture or quotes from books I'm reading and make them
my prayer.
Sometimes I try to listen to God, and take notes on what
God is doing in my spiritual life. This helps me clear
my head and establish priorities, just as Eddison's
garden journal does.
My journal includes lists of things I'm worried about
and people I want to pray for. I write about certain
spiritual practices I've tried, and whether they seemed
to work or not, what was helpful about a time of
solitude, or difficult about trying to fast, for
example.
When I notice some spiritual fruit growing in my life, I
jot it down. If God rains down blessings, I take note of
them and say thanks. When I notice a weed, I write about
it.
For example, last week, I did something very selfish.
Sadly, I didn't even consider the other person's
feelings, but only what I wanted.
So I wrote it down. I felt sad, disappointed with
myself, deeply convicted. I wrote about that. Then, I
asked God's forgiveness. I wrote the words, "I'm so
sorry." Then I wrote down Psalm 103:12, which God
graciously brought to mind: "As far as the east is from
the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from
us."
I still feel badly about what I did, but writing a
confession, and then taking notes about God's response
of grace and forgiveness, motivates me not to make
similar choices in the future. I'm educated by my
journal, just as gardeners learn from their notebooks.
Like Eddison in her garden, I'm often surprised at what
solutions present themselves when I identify the
problems.
Thinking Outside the Box
If you still think you can't journal your prayers, try
making a list of the reasons why you cannot manage to
journal. Guess what? You just wrote your first journal
entry. Pray over your list and ask God's help in
overcoming the barriers to journaling.
These suggestions are just a beginning. Once you start
using non-traditional journaling techniques, you may
invent or discover others. By thinking outside the
journaling box, you can open up new ways to creatively
connect with God.
|
