Journaling

Carson talked about journaling in A Call to Spiritual Reformation as a discipline to help us adopt practical ways to impede mental drift. He thinks that the real value of journaling is several-fold:

1) It enforces a change of pace, a slowing down: it ensures time for prayer and when we are writing down our prayers, we will not end up day-dreaming

2) It fosters self-examination: only the examined life is worth living; if we are not taking time to examine our own heart, mind and conscience from time to time, in the light of God's word, and deal with what we find, we will become encrusted with the barnacles of destructive self-righteousness

3) It ensures quiet articulation both of our spiritual direction and of our prayers

I am never good with journals. The longest journal I have ever maintained was probably for just 2-3 days, and in spurts. And therefore this web logging has been my greatest success at journaling ever. Even though it is different from a personal prayer journal where I can be more unreserved, this public journal accomplishes several things for me:

1) It keeps me going in my daily devotion: having named by blog Daily Ponderings and rightfully so, I make it my responsibility to keep my daily devotion, which I have been truly blessed with the learning, praying and meditating on his word. And on top of that, I get to learn even more with my fellow bloggers. Though I have to be careful of what Carson warned: the danger of making it a regime and deluding myself into thinking that the discipline is an end in itself. As evident over here, my colleague is usually asking the question, "what shall I blog today?" or commenting, "yes, I can blog about this!" I have been trying my best not to fall into that trap - daily devotioning just to have something to blog.

2) It puts a hold on my self-centeredness: looking back into my previous personal journal entries, those which I have kept especially in times of trial and need, I tend to sound really pathetic and full of self-pity. On the flipside however, a public journal may not allow me to disclose my deepest feelings. But this is one thing I can pass, since I really do not want to wallow in self-pity anyway.

Maeghan
Picture by Pam Roth