Todays journal entry, an excerpt.
Leave your story laying around for a soon to be wiser person to discover and read. You will, in this way, add another brick to building your legacy. This is in part why I journal. I think it’s worth the write
A journal has the potential to be a timeless magic mirror of ones heart and soul. Someone may look into the reflective pool of your life generations later and see the honest sought out thoughts of eternity gained. Knowing, trusting and living out a walk with the one who didn’t stay dead is worth the read and thus worth the write.
It could be said that a journal is a vehicle of time travel to the past and influencing an outcome of the future. Yes, worth the write.
Think of how to leave a trail of bread crumbs to the cross and one of rose petals to the Risen Christ. Record the changes in your life’s actions, thoughts and insights. Write of perspectives, mountains climbed, valleys and wayside rests. Smile, sweat, laugh and mourn with your words. Color, paint, picture and bleed between the lines. All these things are worth the write
Most of all, live your life in such a way it is worth writing about. Leave your pain and your chains on a page or two and leave them with Jesus. They don’t deserve a whole journal. Jesus says HE can make your life “Worth the Write”
May our lives be someday worth the read
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come 2 Corinthians 5:17
Gary
Your thoughts tonight remind me of the words to a favorite song, 🎶Lord, I want to be a man who You would write about.”🎶
I resisted journaling for years. I can’t stand the sight of my own handwriting. But this year-during Lent- I’ve been keeping a daily prayer journal. Some days I write more than others, but it’s been a wonderful experience.
It’s great to see your post, Gary, as I wind down for the evening. Blessings.
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Thanks David. A great song. A prayer journal is something I should do more of probably incorporating it into my regular journal.
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I have piles of journals from the past, but I haven’t journaled in years. I think my blog is my journal now.
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I can see how your blog can be your journal Ann. My journal is often too attention deficit to be a good blog. I guess most of us find ways to leave our mark and markers.
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Oh, my blog is definitely better written than my journals, although occasionally I have posted an excerpt from an old journal, when the experience was too awesome to keep to myself. 🙂
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And that blog was definitely worth repeating Ann
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Thanks, Gary.
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Thank you Gary for this timely encouragement. I purchased a diary a few months back to begin my prayer journal and letters to God. The diary sits by my bedside waiting for me to pick up my pen and let it speak on the blank pages. I have been resisting.
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You are welcome Crissy. My oldest daughter admitted (after she was out of the house, married and cross country from us) she would take a sneak peak in my journal once in awhile to read my hopes, dreams and insights into life. She bought me an expensive leather bound journal and took the liberty to write the first page with those confessions and hoping her kids some day would do the same with hers.
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Well Gary you have given me much to think on. I journal prayers, scriptures, and inspiring/encouraging words written by others, but you have given me a new perspective of journaling about my life. I chewed on your post while completing my evening chores and an idea on how to approach this type of journaling is bouncing around in my head. One that I would love for my girls to open one day and read. One that I hope would “be a trail of bread crumbs to the cross and one of rose petals to the Risen Christ.”
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Thanks Beth
It’s actually quite an undertaking. A different way of thinking and writing as well as time spent. I probably journal 3-4 times a week. Sometimes I mull over a story or concept or insight before just putting it in writing. Other times it’s instant. If I ever write a book, my journal may well be more useful than my blogs depending on the audience hoped for. Above all make it unmistakably you, and have fun making it fun to write and read. May the Lord bless your project.
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I believe very much in this. To leave our thoughts behind is a legacy. My children and grandchildren will learn much about me they didn’t know long after I’m gone. It’s the best gift I could ever give them.
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Stephanie , I think that is what pushes me to communicate better with words, analogies and somehow creating a living video in the heads of generations following me.
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I love the final comment; lead a life worth writing about. I also like what you said in this line, ‘Color, paint, picture and bleed between the lines.’ For those of us who journal, that says it all. I encourage everyone to journal. You learn so much about yourself and the world around you. I think writing down your prayers and praises to God is also so meaningful. You can go back and read them again and again. Our words are a legacy we leave behind, and a journal is a daily reminder to live life to the fullest…otherwise what can we write about?
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You get it well Linda. It’s a little like having a private treasure room to be discovered after we have been promoted into eternity
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Definitely made the case for why we should journal. A few weeks back I blogged about someone passing away and his son is now going through old saved blog posts of his father that his dad saved after the Platform Xanga was shut down; defintely left his son a legacy that he’s been talking to me about
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Thanks Jim
I read your post about the son and his dads legacy, well done.
I believe it may not be for everyone but maybe a good question to raise is “would your kids read and know way more about what you want to say and pass on to them and their children after you are gone?”
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Good question
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I love this description, “It could be said that a journal is a vehicle of time travel to the past and influencing an outcome of the future.” That is what motivated me to start a prayer journal over 25 years ago.
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That’s great Manette. I know the journal journey is a discipline that leads to better communication skills with God and mankind. pays dividends as well into the future I’m convinced
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