Rediscovering an Old Friend

Over lunch a friend recently said, “I’ve been reading your book and doing the journaling questions in the back of the book.”

Oh!

I remembered writing in my book about the power of journaling: “In my journal I learned again to open my soul to God and to myself. These pages became a private, life-giving oasis for me.” (p. 143).

Oh!

So why has my journal sat in my drawer for many months? Forgetfulness? Fear of putting to words my inadequacies, fears, failures, questions?

Yes. And yes.

But when I sat to write this morning, prodded by that lunchtime conversation with my Storm Sister, my fears stopped speaking so loudly in my head. Words on paper. They led me to connections between emotions and events. They led me to confession of my shortcomings. And they led me to prayer. Seems to happen a lot in my journal. To paraphrase John Calvin, “The knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves are mutually connected.”

In the pages of my journal I find myself. And I find God.

Remind me friends, would you, not to neglect spending time with my old friend, my journal?

How has writing in a journal helped you?