YES, I want you to write it down.

Bruce and Stan wrote “God is in The
Small Stuff–and It All Matters”, and they
devoted an entire chapter to “Learn To Write,” quoting from 2
Corinthians 3:2 “Your lives are a letter written in our hearts, and
everyone can read it and recognize our good work among you.”

They say that most people rarely write and miss out on one of the greatest
forms of communication and self-expression. And, I submit, that applies to most
men who don’t take even-a- little time to document their lives in a Journal.

A Journal, whether pen strokes on paper or
keystrokes on a computer, allows us a safe way to explore topics with
ourselves. They are, in fact, a reflection of our soul on the mirror of life
and as such contain the record of our honest and vulnerable journey with God.
We can record what God’s been doing in our lives and we can spiritually share
ourselves with Him and examine ways for spiritual growth. Journaling is one
important spiritual disciplines to employ to achieve a grace-centered life.

Some more specific types of journals are:

• Logs, a regularly kept record of performance like a ships log
  recording navigational details. This factual account of events over time
  is usually kept in a format or even in a table for easy examination of
  trends and patterns. In summary, a log is a chronological journal, focused
  on the recording of a specific category of events of our lives and our
  reflections on those events – a temporal ordering that is familiar to us.

• Diaries, “a daily record and a book for keeping private notes
  and records” according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, are filled with
  everything private and personal. They are filled with feelings where logs
  are aimed at recording facts. Anything is fair game as a “subject” for an
  entry and spontaneous; “free writing” is the method usually employed.
• Journals then, are a “service book…for accounts of daily
  events, a record of proceedings and a periodical dealing with current
  events,” according to the dictionary. Or they can be thought of as
  containing the superset of entries from logs and diaries, but they are more
  importantly used to record our innermost personal reflections, thereby
  becoming a living document describing our being.

Some of the most common classifications of
journals:

• Daily gratitude’s,
• Progress towards goals,
• Past events and doors opened,
• Prayers,
• Letters to God or others,
• Dialogue with God,
• Responses to Reading Scripture.

But the one “face” of Journaling not mentioned
above is one that I feel is perhaps the most important, the Personal Goals and
Growth Journal. By writing down your goals, whether daily, weekly, or whatever
and then reflecting on the progress toward achieving those goals; that writing
can be a terrific source of increased inner potential and development. As a
place to sustain our inner personal growth and enhance our professional career,
a journal should never be an end to itself but more like practicing the piano –
the more you do it, the more natural it becomes.

Nor should journal keeping become an obligation
or a chore; it is a tool and may fit your “hand” better than some other tools
fit. As May Sarton said in her journal, “Perhaps we write toward what we will
become from where we are.”