In my life, when it’s comes to journaling, I’ve been inconsistent at best.  Over the years I’ve filled a few journals, but if you were to look at the entry dates you’d see my inconsistency.  For example, you’ll see a March 3, 2005 entry and then the next entry is June 5, 2005.  You get the point.  Don’t get me wrong, I think journaling is a wonderful tool for our personal and spiritual lives, but I’ve just never been very good at keeping a daily journal.

But I think I’ve found a way to keep a daily record of my life without feeling that I need to write paragraph after paragraph for twenty minutes.  For the last three weeks I’ve been keeping what I call a Presence and Gratitude Journal.  It’s not a journal in the traditional sense of the word; it’s more like several bullet points that I write each day.  At the end of the day, I settle into my living room and sit in the chair that I use exclusively for prayer.  There, I recollect myself in God’s presence, I review the day, and in my little moleskine notebook I write bullet points under two headings: 1) God’s presence, love, and action, 2) Grateful for.

My purpose in writing these brief bullet points is simple: to recount where I experienced the Lord’s presence, love, and action and to give thanks to God for the blessings He’s given to me.  I wouldn’t call it journaling in the traditional sense, but it works for me.

Here are some examples from my own journal:
God’s Presence, Love, and Action:
– In being patient with someone with whom I could have gotten aggravated
– In trying to be more focused and prayerful during Mass
– In making good connections with La Salle students at tonight’s wrestling match

Grateful for:
– The person who told me after Mass that he prays for me every day by name
– The joy I brought to my nieces when they received the teddy bears and flowers I sent them after their tonsillectomy
– An enjoyable dinner with friends

What I like about this method is that it doesn’t take long.  I can take three minutes or ten minutes; it’s up to me.  The important thing is that I do it.  In three weeks, here are the benefits that I’ve experienced from doing this:

1) The very fact that I know I’m going to write in my little black book at the end of the day focuses me more on God’s presence and helps me to be more grateful.  Just today as I was walking back into my office after a meeting I thought about my little black book.  That very thought prompted me to recollect myself for a moment to remember God’s presence.

2) It’s a good way to quickly review what God has been doing and to look at the blessings He’s given me.  I can look back over the previous day or the last few days and review where God acted and where I experienced His love and blessings.

3) It helps me to focus on making tomorrow better than today.  When I’m done writing my bullet points, sometimes I’ll jot a word or a phrase at the bottom of the page: “be more attentive to people”; “selfless”; “foster deeper peace and patience.”  These words or phrases are reminders to me of what I believe the Holy Spirit is asking me to focus on.

It’s not a perfect method.  Some days I feel that I don’t have much to write at all; but this feeling is good, because it helps me to realize that I need to be more mindful of God’s presence.  Some days I feel that I can fill a couple of little pages, but I try to keep it to one small page.

So I share this with you as one tool that you might be able to use to help you to grow in your relationship with the Lord.

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What tools besides prayer help you in your relationship with God?  Do you journal?  If so, how does it help you?

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