What do you need to journal?


First and foremost you need a willing and open spirit.
Writing has never come easy to me.  I usually drew the H.S. English teacher who preferred teaching English literature over writing.  Yet when I journal I know no one will be correcting my writing.  I can misspell words, if I don’t know where to put a comma, who cares, and if I want to dangle a participle I can.  (FYI- I have my hubby who edits my blog, checking for writing mistakes). 


Since this is your journal,  you are free to express you deepest thoughts, feelings and dreams.  Your journal is between you, your journal and God.  It comes under the confessional or attorney/client privilege. You may share entries if you desire, however it is for “your eyes only”.


Next you need to choose a journal and a writing instrument.
Some people prefer pencils, while others use blue, black or a rainbow of color pens.  The journals themselves are as varied as the people who use them.  Some have blank pages, some have lines.  Some journals are bound while others are spiraled.  You can choose a plain or very decorative journal, a store bought or handmade journal.   Of course you may want to give up the portability of the journal for the ease of a computer.   If you use a computer, you can encrypt your journal to keep it secret, or you can put it on a password protected online directory, like Google Docs. 


Finally you need to make an appointment with your journal just as you would make a lunch date with a good friend.  Find a quiet time, a quiet space and quiet your spirit down.  Keep a scratch piece of paper close at hand to jot down any distractions that may come your way.  


This first week we want to concentrate on journaling about our day and where we see God’s hand in our life.  This will be a good start to get into the practice of Journaling.

Ideas for Journaling


Journaling response to my daily events.
Briefly record your daily events then consider one or more of the following points to journal.


1.  How was I affected by today’s activities or the people I encountered today.
2.  How do I wish I had responded to the day’s activities and people? 
3.  Where did I see or experience God today?
4.  How do I wish God had intervened today?
5.  What insight did I come away with from today. 
6.  What blessings did I encounter today.


Journal in response to Scripture
As you are doing your daily Bible reading, you may come across a passage or verse that really jumps out at you or is challenges you.  This is fertile soil for journaling.  Don’t try and journal a large chunk of Scripture.  Instead choose a verse or small passage.  Read your selection at least three times, preferably one being out loud.  Then choose one or more of the journaling starters.


1.  What stands out to me?
2.  What emotions did I feel?
3.  What about this passage challenges me?
4.  What questions do I wish the passage answered?
5.  What questions do I want to ask God?
6.  What changes do I feel God is asking me to make in light of this passage?

Journaling Conversations

Conversations with others, your self or God can become great opportunities for journaling.  After a conversation with a friend on nuclear power you may want to journal the conversation and your feelings during the conversation.  Are you needing to decide between two jobs? Have a journaling conversation with yourself about the pros and cons of each job. Maybe you are needing to discuss a situation at work with your boss.  Then journal the future conversation with your boss.  It will help you make your points more clear and keep your emotions in check.  Tevya from Fiddler on the Roof, had a running conversation with God.  “ I know we are your chosen people Lord, but why are we chosen so often for so many things?”Just as Tevya conversed with God, so we can converse with God. This is prayer.  Just talking to God about our day, our thoughts and questions as well as our failings. Writing them out can bring clarity to our thoughts, desires, failings and also allows the Holy Spirit to direct our prayers.


After choosing a conversation to journal, quiet yourself asking the Holy Spirit to be a participant in your journaling.  Be open and honest about your thoughts and feelings.  Remember only you are going to read the jounaling.  Journal one our more questions below.


1.  What were the important points of the conversation?
2.  How did I respond during the conversation?
3.  What feelings came to the surface during the conversation?
4.  What do I wish I had said/could say during the conversation?
5.  What do I wish the other person would say or respond?

Journaling Media
Our media rich culture often pulls us away from God, however we can use media to see God’s hand, to see needs of our world where He wants us to be his feet and hands and to seek out God’s truths and wisdom. When you encounter a news article, a movie, lyrics of a songs, even a blog that stands out to you or brings up questions for you... journal it.


1.  Choose your media, rereading, watching or listening to it.
2.  What concepts or questions stand out to me?
3.  Where do I see God’s hand?
4.  Do I feel that God is not present?  Why?
5.  In what way do I feel that God might me asking me to be his feet and hands.?
6.  What Scriptures either support or confront the concepts in the media?



Journaling Dreams
Abram, Jacob, Daniel, Mary, Joseph, Peter and Paul where all ordinary people experienced extraordinary communication with God in dreams and visions.  Through dreams and visions we can receive guidance, warnings, commands and reassurance.  We must look at dreams as our friends.  They come to help not harm us and need to be welcome them into our lives even when at first they seem to be difficult or disturbing at first. 


Before going to bed, pray to be receptive to God’s messages.  Put a pad of paper and a pen by the bedside for quick way to record your dream as soon as you awake.  You might want a flashlight on the night stand to if you awake during the night, want to record and don’t want to disturb your spouse. 


When you awake immediately record as much of your dream as you can remember.  Write down as many details as you can no matter how small they can be.  Don’t try to analysis the dreams until later.  During the day other details may come to mind.  Record these details on whatever scraps of paper available through the day remembering to compile them at a later time.  When you feel you have remembered as much of your dreams as possible then consider journaling using the following questions as journaling points.


1.  Am I an actor or a spectator in my dream or vision?
2.  Who are the characters in my dream?
3.  What emotions did I feel in the midst of the dream?
4.  How did I feel upon waking?
5.  How do I feel about my dream now?
6.  What was familiar about the dream?  Is this a recurring dream  
7.  Is there any obvious meanings that pop out to you?
8.  Coming back to your entry a week, month or year later, how did/did not my dream come to fruition?  

Spiritual Focus for June

The Jesus Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God have mercy on me, a sinner.

Variations:

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world have mercy on me.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Have mercy on me a sinner.

Have mercy on me.


There was a young Russian that lived during the 19th century, who began a pilgrimage - not a journey to Rome or Jerusalem but to a place of prayer.  Being challenged by Paul’s admonition to “pray without ceasing” and to “pray in the Spirit at all occasions,” he set out on a pilgrimage to see if this was really possible.

Going from town to town, and priest to monk, and to any wise man he could find, the young pilgrim sought the answer to unceasing prayer.  While walking down a country road a hermit/ monk came to walk along side of him.  The pilgrim posed his question to this monk,  is “ unceasing prayer possible?” After answering in the affirmative the hermit/monk invited him to his nearby monastery for further discussion.  “The ceaseless Jesus Prayer is a continuous, uninterrupted call on the holy name of Jesus Christ with the lips, mind, and heart; and in the awareness of His abiding presence it is a plea for His blessing in all undertakings, in all places, at all times, even in sleep.  


The words of the Prayer are: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”

The hermit/monk gave the writings of the Desert Fathers to the pilgrim, who spent the next week studying the passages on the Jesus Prayer. When he returned to the monk, he was told to return to his hut and pray the Jesus Prayer 3,000 times a day.  He also gave him a rope with 100 knots to keep track of the number of recitations. 

The first couple of days were a struggle, but the Prayer soon became easy and joyful.  He returned to the hermit/monk and described his experience.  The hermit/monk increased the repetitions to 6,000 per day, then 12,000.  There were challenges with the increasing repetitions, including his tongue going numb, his jaw becoming tight, his thumb and arm hurting from working the rope and the need to rise early and retire late.  However, he grew so accustomed to the Prayer that when he was not praying he felt something was missing.

After the monk’s death the pilgrim began wandering the country side, continually praying the Jesus Prayer and teaching it to those he met along the way.  The name of the young Russian pilgrim is not known.  However, he left us the story of his pilgrimage in prayer in a book called “The Way of a Pilgrim”.

The Practice of the Jesus Prayer.

Just when, where and how do we begin the practice?  There are several books on the Jesus Prayer and a multitude of websites, each giving their own spin on the “how to” of the Jesus Prayer.  However, my goal is to present Spiritual Formation as simplistically as possible to create a sacramental life for ordinary people.  Though we may at time desire to run off to a monastery in order to cultivate a prayer life, most of us will never be able to.  For what it is worth here are my suggestions as to how to begin.  Start small.  Carve 5 minutes out of your day to still yourself.  Get comfortable but not too comfortable, you just might just fall asleep.  Begin saying the Jesus Prayer and repeat it again and again. Each day increase the time you spend in prayer.  You will soon find yourself easily saying the Jesus Prayer when you are doing mundane chores such as the dishes or mowing the lawn.  You may want to get a length of cord  that you can tie knots in to make your own prayer rope to track your prayers.  I made my cord 18" long with 10 knots so it easily fit in my pocket.  As you pray, finger one knot then move on the next knot and say the prayer again.  When you reach the end of your rope... begin praying down the rope again. The rope is not necessary but it helps you to focus to begin with. You will soon find out that can finger the rope in your pocket, say the prayer silently and listen to that workshop lecture or your bosses instructions.  Some people can even carry on a conversation with another and silently pray the Jesus prayer silently at the same time - pray without ceasing.

Spiritual Focus for May

Celebration

We are in the season of Easter.  When you think of this season you think of new life springing forth not only through the resurrection of Jesus but also in the renewing of life in spring.  The dead trees are bringing new foliage, and flowers we thought were long gone begin to break through the ground with color that any artist wishes he could paint with.  Though Christmas is a important and meaningful time of celebration, it is Easter that sets us apart from all other faiths.  It is the foundation of the gospel. It is our reason for hope.  It is our reason to celebrate!

And celebrate we will.  This month’s Spiritual Focus is on Celebration.  We have narrowed this subject down to celebration of creation and the resurrection.

History and Biblical Basis

Throughout the Old Testament the Hebrews were told to set aside certain days for feasts or celebrations such as Passover or the feast of the Tabernacle.  After the resurrection the followers of Jesus regularly attended the Temple worship but they also met on the first day of the week, the day Christ rose from the dead, to celebrate the resurrection.

The Church has always set aside days and seasons for remembering and to  celebrate God’s work in the world and in the lives of his people.  We celebrate not only Christmas, remembering God giving His son, Easter and the resurrection but also some of those of the “cloud of witness” that God used in unique ways such as St. Patrick or St. Francis of Assisi.

The way of Christ is celebration.  The angels announced His birth as “good news of great joy.” When He began His ministry he proclaimed a year of Jubilee, when all debts where canceled, slaves where released, and sold property was returned to the original owner.  God was demonstrating his gracious provision to his people.  Jesus’ first miracle was at a celebration, a wedding.

Often in our Christian societies we lack celebration.  We somehow feel that Christians must always remain serious.  We can’t smile, and far be it for us to “loose it” in laughter.  Harvey Cox said, “man is so hard toward useful work and rational calculations he has all but forgotten the joy of ecstatic celebration."

However in John 15 Jesus says to his disciples, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.  If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."   Jesus desires that we have joy and that it be complete and full.

Celebration produces joy and joy brings strength. “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” Nehemiah 8:10.  In Gal 5:22 joy is identified as one of the fruits of the Spirit which we are to cultivate and nurture under the direction of the Holy Spirit.  Joy produces not only strength but energy and that energy hedges against other spiritual disciplines from becoming boring, dull and lifeless.

Joy is a great substitute for anxiety.  "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Phil. 4:4-6.   When we are rejoicing it is difficult to think about our worries.

Ideas for Celebrating of Creation and Resurrection

*    Take a walk, a dance, or sing in the woods, in a nature park, a city park

      or garden or along a river walk.  Celebrate God’s creative expression

      through nature.

*    Find a place away from the city lights.  Sit out under the stars and

      contemplate the vastness of the universe, the smallness of man and yet

      how great his love for man is.

*    Celebrate the resurrection by watching the sunrise and compare it with the

      new life Christ gives us.

*    Have a resurrection breakfast.  Invite friends over early in the morning to

      watch the sunrise and then eat breakfast together.

*    Put up a bird house, then watch to see if there will be new life hatching

      within.  (Making a birdhouse would also be a way to celebrate God’s 

      creative nature.)

*    Plant a garden and celebrate as each new plant breaks through the ground

      or buds.  Do a little victory dance for your victory garden.  Sing one of 

      Emmaus Roads favorite songs, Jesus by Page France.

                   

*    Read one of the resurrection stories in the gospels.  As you read the story,

      choose to become one of the characters in the story such John, Mary, Peter

      or Thomas.  Experience the sights they saw, the things they touched, the

      smells they smelled. What emotions did they experience?  Journal your 

      experience as one of those witnessing the resurrection.       

*    If you can get to a farm, watch chicks hatch or a lamb being born.

Spiritual Focus for April

Daily Review

1.    In what ways have I felt God’s presence today? What joys or frustrations,

       delights or difficulties?

2.    What has happened today that I can I be grateful for?

3.    What trials and temptations have I experienced today?  How did I 

       respond? 

4.     What opportunities came my way to serve others and to show the love

        of Christ?

5.    What challenges and joys might I face tomorrow?  What gifts and fruits of

       the Holy Spirit would I like to see increased in my life to meet those 

       challenges?