"It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment? For the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone." ~Vita Sackville-West
I've been bugging my mom to start writing stuff down. Over Christmas break, we were working on my parents' wedding album, converting it all to a scrapbooking album with picture-perserving paper and tape. It was so much fun! I got to see their wedding pictures and heard the stories behind the pictures. I said, "Mom, you have to write about these pictures. You have to write a paragraph explaining that ten days before your wedding, Dad was in the hospital with appendicitis! You have to write down that you and Grandma made your wedding dress, and the week before your wedding you tore the sleeves out because you didn't like them!" Those stories - even if only valuable to me - will be lost, forgotten, if it isn't written down. The heritage that is represented in this album is priceless and it is something that I cannot afford to lose.
I'm becoming even more convinced that journaling is a sacred practice that I need to be committed to. I'm not talking about the mushy 14-year-old "Dear Diary, today I fell in love with Bill Williams..." journaling - although that may qualify. I'm not talking about writing about what you had for lunch that day either. I'm talking about real writing. About life, preferably yours. Writing about what you're learning, what books you're reading, what books you'd like to read, what interesting things happened that day, what terrible things happened that day, and what your heart desires for tomorrow.
A journal page is a snapshot of one day of life. It may read something like "Today, I slept in, (which felt really good) did a ton of homework, and then went to Wal-Mart. Nothing exciting happened, but it was a good day. I took three other girls with me to Wal-Mart, so it was more fun than just going by myself. It rained today and was kind of gross outside, so it was nice to hang out with some people in the dorm instead of just hiding away in my corner bedroom. I'm so thankful to be here at this school!"
Or, it may read something like this: "Today I read Galatians 4. it talks about how Jesus Christ has freed us from the law. Paul was writing to the Galatians, who had turned away from the true Gospel and back to trying to obey the Jewish Law to win God's favor. We were once slaves to the law, but now Christ has given us FREEEEEEEEDOM!"
Or it may be a combination of both.
It's a way to REMEMBER where you've been, where you're at, and where you're going. Key word: REMEMBER.
This was the demise of the Israelites.
Time and time again, God did amazing things, and they kept forgetting. They won a battle, they crossed a river, they didn't starve to death, their shoes didn't wear out - all by God's grace. But could they remember what God had done the next time they were hungry? When they were up against tough guys? No. So God said: "Make an altar." Altars were Old Testament blogs. They were there to help the people remember what God had done in the past for them. Because - let's be honest - the Israelites had really good forgetters.
When you keep a journal, you can look back at where you've been and say things like: "God is so faithful!" "Well, that was stupid of me." "God is so good to me." "I've come a long way since then." God's faithfulness is remembered and celebrated. Sometimes, when I'm having a bad day, I'll grab one of my past journals and read a day that was really good. I am reminded of God's promises, His everlasting love, goodness, and FAITHFULNESS. And I think that's what God intended when he created Altars. And pens. And the internet. (Here, I resist the urge to make a smart-butt comment about Al Gore.)
So I don't care if your journal consists of a 3x5 card of what God is teaching you or something that He did. Or if it's a 300 page notebook. Or an online blog. Whatever you do, DON'T FORGET.
So yes, Mom (because I know you're the only one reading this), I DO want to know that Dad's wedding ring only cost $20 in 1969, and that your lace sleeves were too much to handle a week before your wedding. Because 41 years later, you're still married, because of His Faithful Grace.
