Write it down

Last week we had our quarterly Enrichment meeting. Our quarterly meetings are based on Doctrine & Covenants 88:119 (also Doctrine & Covenants 109:8):

Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;

(Speaking of, I love Elder Stevenson’s talk from last General Conference, “Sacred Homes, Sacred Temples.”)

For this meeting we focused on organization, preparation, and prayer and reflection. I was invited to talk about the third item. I wasn’t quite sure exactly what I would say, but then they put up this video on Mormon Messages and I knew exactly what I wanted to talk about.

It is from President Eyring’s General Conference talk in October 2007, “O Remember, Remember.”

In the talk he suggests two questions we should ponder, daily if we can:

• Did God send a message that was just for me?
• Did I see His hand in my life or the lives of my children?

I couldn’t download that video to take to the Church building and show it there, so I used some of my video editing magic and put together my own DVD of it, using photos from my life. As I selected the photos to use, from when I was a baby to two months ago, I was amazed to realize that I could write a story about each one of those about how the hand of God had been present in my life or how I had received a message from heaven just for me in relation to that photo. His hand really is in our lives, and we are never alone.

For me though, I’ve noticed that I generally only realize such things upon reflection. And often only upon reflection over time. When I was eleven or so I set a goal to write in my journal every day for three months, and at the end of those three months I didn’t stop. I wrote daily for more than ten years. Since then it’s been more weekly or monthly. But I’ve found that sitting down weekly with my journal, in whatever form it happens to be at the time, sketch book, unlined book, leather bound pages, and reflecting on the week, I can see how things fit together, how I was guided or inspired, or simply given peace in a time of trouble.

For me I’ve also separated my journal into two parts. In the Book of Mormon, Nephi explains the difference between the large plates and small plates he is keeping. On the large plates he writes the dealings of his people and their history. On the small plates he writes the dealings of God and the prophecies about Christ. For me I keep my large plate type stuff here on my blog. My every day thoughts and stuff. In my hand written (because I like the feel and authenticity of writing by hand [If I could write; The written word]) I keep my deeper thoughts and reflections.

The act of sitting down to write helps me to reflect and ponder and to recognize the blessings I have in my life. And as I look back at what I’ve written in the past, I can see how I have grown (and not just my spelling and hand writing).

As I put together a set of handouts for them to take home, I used President Eyring’s talk. But I also pulled selected quotes from a lesson about President Woodruff and journals, “Journals: ‘Of Far More Worth than Gold’” that we had in 2006 and that I remember because of a very distinctive occurrence during that lesson that actually made it into my journal.42D

The Art of Manliness also ran an article almost two weeks ago about starting a journal. I particularly like that they show that you don’t have to write pages and pages each entry. Sometimes a single sentence can really say it all.

When keeping a journal you need to keep in mind three things.

1. Where

• notebook
• binder
• date book
• sketchbook
• journal
• electronically (in which case you might want to check out the Blogging 101 guide that some friends of mine and I put together last summer)

2. How

• Just write! The more you write the more you’ll have to write. Just as the people you talk with most often you actually have more to say to, the more often you write the more you’ll find to write about.
• Set aside a time/place to reflect each day/week
• Or, keep it with you and write when inspired.

3. What

• Did God send a message that was just for me?
• Did I see His hand in my life or the lives of my children?
• Small and large plates
• Keep lists of things
• Story prompt ideas in a jar
• etc. …

Two quotes I have that I think apply very well to the importance of keeping a journal.

The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.
– Thomas Jefferson

God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December. :daisy:
– James M. Barrie

If you haven’t written those warm thoughts or memories down, it’s harder to keep a hold of them for when you need them.

Which brings me to a question about journals. Do you write the bad thoughts? The rough times? Those times when you were so mad you could spit nails? Several people said they understood you were only supposed to write the good things in your journal. But there’s something that just doesn’t sit right with me about that.

I have journal entries where I was so mad I could spit nails, but writing it down and explaining it to paper kept me from exploding at some innocent bystander. It also allowed me to fully process what I was feeling at the time. If I don’t write about the bad times, then someone would mistakenly feel that my life was always easy and good. How can I write about the lessons I learned from a trial if I don’t write the trial down?

And I think that last bit is the key. I don’t just write the bad things, but I write how I got through them, what I learned from them, and how they strengthened me. My journal is a barometer for my life. I can see if it’s time to start learning from the trial if I find I’m just writing about how hard things are. And I can see what is important to me by what I am taking the time to write down.

How do you keep your journal? How has it changed through time? What have you learned about yourself from keeping a journal?