Patrick O'Connell

Community Christian Church Journaling Video

This video is all about journaling and features yours truly.

Journaling Through John

Although I am not blogging about it, I did want to mention for the record that I am still journaling and reading through John. I find that these challenges always compel me to make the commitment. I love reading and truly enjoy writing about what I am reading. It's been a huge part of my spiritual growth.

Troy is posting everyday about his readings. Check it out.

Journaling Through August

Well I did it.

Today is the last day of the month and that means my journaling challenge is over: I have journaled everyday through the month of August.

Since my high school days I have kept one kind of journal or another. But I have never been habitual about it. And I certainly don't do it regularly. I'd journal one day and then leave it for a day. Or I'd journal for five days straight and then miss it for five days.

This has always dismayed me.

I've tried everything> I've bought fancy pens and notebooks; I've bought cheap pens and notebooks. I've timed myself. I even maintained an audio journal for a few days when I was in the Army. In fact, one of the reasons I got into blogging was that I imagined it would be a good proxy for journaling.

So starting August 1st I decided that I would sit at my desk and force myself to write something every morning. Period. No excuses. It didn't matter if I was writing about the color of the rug, I was writing. Since I already practice a quiet time (5:00AM everyday), finding the time to journal was actually easy.

I began well and then by day three of four felt like I was getting into the groove and then after a week I had it nailed. I have an entry for everyday in August. What a wonderful feeling it is to flip through all of those pages and see that I have accomplished my goal.

Now I have a routine. I have a process. Now it's a habit.

What was different this time around? Commitment. Rising from bed, drinking my coffee and writing.

If you're like me and have obsessed over the perfect journaling tools, may I recommend the Zebra F-301 Fine tip--blue ink--pen and the Blueline Series A9 notebook. These certainly helped.

I know this isn't going to be very practical advice if you're trying to journal and looking for a tip. All I can tell you is that committing worked for me.

What about you? Do you journal? Why or why not? What are some of the challenges you've faced and what techniques have you learned that have helped you commit to it?

Jesus is Everything

I was going through some of my old journals the other day and came across this. I wrote it very soon after I found everything:

One day I am going to write about how I went from believing in NOTHING to believing in everything.

I was once an atheist. I believed in nothing and was of course a terrible sinner. And then it all changed and now I want to spend the rest of my life glorifying Him. How did this happen?

I think I would begin by admitting that my salvation is a gift from God. He gave me everything.

So I plan to write a book about this in the future. Well not just about this because that would boring. So maybe I'll just write a chapter about it in a spiritual autobiography? (Not sure that would be any more exciting actually.) My point: I want to try and understand all of this in an effort to help others. I suspect there are many like me.

For me, Christ is everything. I pray that you come to know that Christ wants to be everything for you no matter where you are in life.

Journaling for Spiritual Growth

Check out this post from bloggers Mark and Ellen Strohm at Loving Limits about journaling for greater growth. They offer both encouragement and excellent practical advise.

Spiritual Journaling Workshop

On Monday evening I attended a spiritual journaling workshop at CCC. Sue Natello is Spiritual Director there was the instructor. Sue is a mature believer and did a great job of presenting to us some practical advice on the topic. Very helpful to me was to hear about how journaling has helped her and how integral a part of her faith journey it is.

Here are my key take-aways:

1. A spiritual journal is about celebrating me and God.
2. The purpose of journaling is to grow deeper in an intimate love relationship with God.
3. Bible reading and journaling go hand in hand.
4. A spiritual journal is a written record of three things 1) My communication with God 2) Recording the activities in my life and how God is influencing it 3) Reflections and Meditations on the word
5. A spiritual journal is a tool that helps us to: 1) Recognize and respond to the Holy Spirit's transforming work in our lives 2) Helps us remember what's happening 3) Focuses us to listen to God
6. You should journal at the same time everyday, in the same place.

This gives you a pretty good flavor of what we covered. Let me know if you want more details: I took pretty good notes.

Do You Journal?

I was wondering how many of you keep a journal? 

Andy Stanley in his book Visioneering writes:

A journal is the story of your life with God. It is a way of documenting the lessons God as taught you as well as the experiences he brought you through.

This got me to thinking about the reasons why I have kept a journal for the past 18 years. I don't write everyday and I don't have one system that I've stuck with. My journal used to be a forum for me to complain but that was when I was younger. Over the years, it's simply become a record of my life. I am trying to be more intentional and deliberate about journaling, especially as it relates to my spiritual journey.

Anyway, if you are willing to share, I would like to know: 

• How frequently do you write?
• Where do you write?
• What sorts of materials do you use?
• What sorts of things do you write about?
• Have you ever kept a spiritual journal? How is this exercise different from a regular journal?