Saturday morning, I creaked open the spine of a new Moleskine, savoring the fresh bookstore smell, the crisp binding, and the smooth, empty pages. A world of possibility awaits.

It took me 20 months to fill up my last Moleskine journal, each morning recording my meditations on Scripture, meaningful verses, writing out prayers, and copying favorite quotes. It is fascinating to me to flip back through almost two years’ worth of meditations and see how God met me each morning. It is not a little disturbing that almost two years’ worth of spiritual life can be summed up in a 240 page journal.

But that’s the truth of it. This little tool has helped me think about God’s word. It has helped me slow down and think and pray and write, and I trust it has helped me grow. Today I inscribed the first page with one of my favorite verses:

“Awake, my glory!
Awake, O harp and lyre!
I will awake the dawn!”
(Psalm 57:8/108:2)

Of course there is no command in Scripture to keep a journal or to write out our meditations. But many have found it a helpful practice and a useful way to grow in the grace of God. If you don’t follow this practice, you’re no less a Christian. But give it a try! Start small and start tomorrow. Try it for a few weeks. If it doesn’t work for you, bag it. I must have gotten started on half a dozen different journals before the practice actually began to stick.

For those of you who keep a journal, what do you do?

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