3 minute read
My journal
IFIRST started journaling in my twenties. I’m not somebody who journals every day, but it helps to record significant moments, highlights and occasions when I have received a particular thought or message.
It can be really encouraging to look back on the journal entries because writing captures feelings and emotions as well. Reading them reawakens memories, which can be quite powerful. Throughout the year I also use my journal to set goals or capture ideas. I can then look back and see how far I’ve come.
A lot of people do creative journaling – they draw or they use papercraft elements in more of a scrapbooking style – but for me it’s like a diary entry. And, if I’m inspired, I can write several pages.
Time and time again, particularly in the Old Testament, we’re encouraged to remember what God has done. For instance, the prophet Samuel said to the people: ‘Obey the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. Remember the great things he has done for you’ (1 Samuel 12:24 Good News Translation). These recorded memories are a spur for living in the present moment and looking towards the future with hope.
Lent, which starts on 2 March, is a special time in the Christian calendar. I always seek to set time aside for reading and at some point experience solitude on a retreat.
I have quite a collection of Lent books and, of course, every year there are different ones being published. The Army’s new book, A Lent Journal, is a great resource. You’re invited to read through a song and Bible verse, perhaps take some time to pray about it, and then record your thoughts and responses on the page next to it.
I hope for some people the journal will be an opportunity to think not only about Scripture but also songs in the Army songbook. The best lyric writers take a thought and manage to express it in a way that captures the heart and mind.
The Lectio 365 app is another useful starting point for people who want to establish more of a pattern and routine of prayer. I think it’s all about finding your own rhythm.
For some people that involves time to pray first thing in the morning. For others, especially in these working-fromhome days, people can spend time with God in their lunch break. Even if it’s just a walk for half an hour, I would encourage you to carve out some time for God.
Some people do wild swimming, such as the Rev Kate Bottley. She was asked: ‘Do you pray as you’re swimming?’ ‘The swim is the prayer,’ she replied. She explained that, usually, she’s such a busy person and her head is full of so many things buzzing around. But when she’s in cold water, where the focus is on moving and keeping afloat, that is the time she feels closest to God.
I have experienced God’s presence when I’ve written down everything that’s in my heart and mind and poured out my heart to him in a journal.
Whatever it looks like, the whole essence of spiritual formation for me is about a daily practice. I don’t want people to feel burdened to do half a dozen different things, but rather find something that really inspires them and explore it.
I would encourage people to try journaling. You don’t really know what it’s going to look like because it’s about you. It’s your personal expression and experience, and something that can start with just a few lines on a page.
Buy a beautiful notebook and maybe a special pen and choose a particular place in the house which you can make part of your time with God. A lot of people have a prayer room or prayer space in their home.
A very simple way to begin would be to write down just where you are at the moment, how you’re feeling spiritually, things to be grateful for, things to be challenged about and things that you’re working on in your life. Using A Lent Journal would be a good starting point.
To mark the publication of A Lent Journal, a new series reveals how journaling helps people’s relationship with God – this week Secretary for Spiritual Life Development Lieut-Colonel Jayne Roberts (THQ)
A Lent Journal is available from
sps-shop.com/
books for £5 (plus postage and packaging)
