Weekly Rhythms
Journaling & Reflection.
The weekly rhythm we focus on is journaling.
Perhaps for you journaling sounds more like keeping a diary of your days than a rhythm for deepening your journey with Christ. We understand the apprehension! Here’s our suggestion—start by responding to one simple question;
‘How is God working in my life?’
We’ve written this at the top of every page because, in many ways, contemplating this question is the very purpose of journaling. Stopping to recognise how God is working in your life—in the messy, mundane and memorable—produces a written record and a tangible testament of God’s faithfulness in all circumstances. It allows us to recognise God’s hand of grace more readily and focus our attention on where we need his help and guidance into the future.
At the bottom of each page there is also space to consider which rhythm you would like to prayerfully grow in each week.
Journaling.
What is Journaling?
Journaling can be done for many reasons, but when practiced as a spiritual discipline it intentionally seeks to open our lives to God, ourselves and the world in which we live. It takes our thoughts and emotions, worries and joys, burdens and blessings—and places them before God in the humble act of putting pen to paper.
Like all rhythms in our lives, journaling provides us with an opportunity to commune with God. It can include giving thanks, processing our inner lives, writing prayers, lamenting, or simply putting our thoughts and questions before God as an act of honesty and vulnerability.
The Purpose of Journaling
In the end, the hope of journaling is simple: to love God more deeply in order that we might love others and ourselves more fully and truly. In the words of Helen Cepero;
‘Our true goal is a deeper relationship with the God who longs to meet us at the heart of all that we were and are and hope to be. Attention to our own reality—our dreams and our wounds, our desires and our hopes, our friends and our enemies, our past, our present and our future—is not for its own sake, but to tune our hearts to hear God’s transforming Word for us.’
Recommended Reading: Our recommended resource for the rhythm of journaling is a beautiful book by Helen Cepero titled Journaling as a Spiritual Practice: Encountering God Through Attention Praying.
7 Practical Tips for Developing a Weekly Rhythm of Journaling
1 - Follow a Simple Prompt: At the top of each page we’ve written a simple prompt: How is God working in my life? There’s freedom for you to choose anything—you might have your own that you’d prefer—but having a prompt focuses your attention on why you’re journaling.
2 - Pray: Ask God to be present with you and to help you be still before him.
3 - Pick a Time and Place: Schedule a weekly time and pick a regular place to practice your rhythm of journaling. There’s freedom to do this for as long or as short as you like—the point is to make it sustainable!
4 - Leave Your Phone Behind: We all feel the tug of distraction when our phone is nearby. For that reason, we recommend placing your phone somewhere else before taking out a pen your Resilient Rhythms Journal.
5 - Mark the Date: This helps to turn your journal into a reminder of God’s faithfulness that is specific. It lives in real time and space, not just somewhere in the past, and can remind you of God’s goodness in seasons of doubt and difficulty.
6 - Use the Psalms as a Model: The Psalms include thanksgiving and praise, lament and sorrow, doubt and faith. Nothing is off limits when it’s addressed toward God—and it’s the same with the pages of your journal.
7 - Remember It’s About You and God: Write as if no one will ever read your journal. Often, we can be hesitant to write honestly in case it’s ever read. But remembering that our journaling is about yourself and God provides freedom from needing to make the words you write profound or for anyone else’s eyes. Breathe in the grace that comes from knowing this is only about you and God.