Growing up Southern Baptist, I was expected to attend Sunday morning and evening worship services, Sunday School, Church Training and of course, Wednesday night fellowship dinner and prayer meeting. I was also encouraged to have a “daily quiet time” that was expected to last about ten minutes. The plan was to read a passage of Scripture, pray and then get back to my day. The selling point of the daily quiet time was that it really didn’t take all that long. Everyone, I was told, could find ten minutes for Jesus.
Only later, as I was introduced to the classic writings on the spiritual disciplines, did I begin to understand how shallow my prayer life had been. There was so much more available to the person who wanted to know more about prayer, Scriptural meditation, and journal writing. When I was growing up, the thought of writing down a prayer was discouraged. Prayers should be “heart-felt” and immediate. The thought of actually using your mind – much less pen and paper – was considered to be too much “religion.”
Imagine my shock when I realized the great souls of Christianity had been men and women who kept journals. Not only that, but a lot of Christian discipleship classics were copies of these great men’s and women’s journals. Who hasn’t read Oswald Chamber’s “My Utmost for His Highest?” That’s a prayer journal. Who knew writing out our prayers and devotional thoughts could be so life changing.
Discovering this, I started keeping a journal. I’ve kept a journal for over thirty years. For me, it’s been one of the most productive and important practices I’ve added to my spiritual practices. Please understand, keeping a journal is just one of the spiritual practices. It’s a tool – nothing more and nothing less. If it works for you, stay with it. If it doesn’t, drop it and don’t think about it again.
There are several reasons keeping a journal works for me. First, I have the attention span of a gnat. I can be easily distracted by the fly in the room, by the color of the carpet and the sound traffic makes as it drives by my house. Having a pen in my hand, an open journal in front of me and my eyes watching the words as my pen forms them on the page keeps my mind focused and my thoughts flowing. Also, writing down things helps me remember them. Copying a Bible verse or a prayer into my journal increases the chances I’ll be able to remember what I was thinking about later during the day. I have also found it valuable to flip back through the journal and see what I was thinking about and dealing with last month, last year or a few years ago and then see how things worked out. Needless to say, I’ve found out Jesus has been answering a lot more prayers than I had realized.
We’re now finding ourselves surfing a wave of reaction to the over digitalization of our lives. Our children are addicted to screens. Parents spend hours “doom scrolling” and AI seems to be stalking us at every turn. Pushing back against this, people are rediscovering their analogue lives. People are going back to paper calendars and check lists. Of course, an entire industry has sprung up serving the needs of people who write in journals, keep notebooks and sketch on large art spiral pads. There are pens to match. Pens of all types and sizes – from a few bucks to a few thousand dollars (no, I’m not kidding). Leather bound notebooks and journals with gold nibbed pens to write your brilliant thoughts with flair and pizzazz.
Of course, we really don’t need any of this. Any kind of writing utensil will do. A pencil, ball point pen and yes, if you want, an expensive fountain pen. Any kind of paper will do – leather bound notebooks or legal pads. It doesn’t matter. The only thing you need is something to write with and then, something to write on.
Keeping a Journal
Then, you need to write. Don’t worry about what you’re going to write about or how to get started. Just start writing. Studies have shown that writing by hand engages an entirely different part of our brain and activates our memory circuits in a way digital tools can’t. Write until you see something you want to think more about. It could be a random thought, a story, a recent event – just anything you would want to think about at a different level. Then, slow down and do the thinking you want to do. Don’t rush this process. Don’t try to force it. Let your pen listen to your soul… and write.
Do this everyday. Do it at the same time and place. Train your body and mind to anticipate your time writing in your journal. Over time, you’ll begin to see the same stories and issues coming up again and again. These are the moments you’ll want to spend extra time on. Over time, you will find yourself facing giants, releasing grudges, forgiving those who have hurt you and in general living much better in the world.
Our brains aren’t made for storing information. Our thoughts will keep walking around in our heads to make sure we don’t forget them. When you write your thoughts down, your brain will be quiet.
So, get a pen. Find a piece of paper. Start writing.
