“Write With Me!” Part 1: Journals

I’ve just finished writing my 50th journal. I started when I was 10 and I’ve never stopped!

My mom gave me a "5-year diary" when I was 10 and told me to write down some of the interesting things that happened during my days. She said I’d look back some day and be surprised at how things have changed (and how they’ve stayed the same!)

She said I didn’t have to write much. Just a few words each day. So I did.

My first entry was on February 5th, 1973, my sister’s birthday. I wrote: "Marilyn’s birthday. Had cake." Apparently, I took my mom’s advice about brevity!

This morning, I wrote the final entry in my current journal. "Lord, Jesus, thanks for loving me. In Your name, Amen."

It’s always an exciting day for me when I finish a journal and start another. There’s the joy of finishing one book and the freshness of starting a new one. It always feels like New Year’s Day, with a clean slate in front of me.

Have you ever thought about writing a journal? Recording your thoughts, your fears, your laughter, your tears?

I write my journals for an audience of one: me! (Well, God and me.) I don’t expect anyone else to ever read them. But I do love looking back on them from time to time, seeing what thrilled my heart, what stilled my heart, and how God has brought me through the ups and downs and "everydays" of life. Looking back gives me encouragement as I look to my future.

If you’ve never kept a journal, I encourage you to try! Just a few words a day! "Marilyn’s birthday. Had cake." It can be that simple!

Or it can be incredibly profound. For instance, my second entry in that same journal was on February 8th, 1973. I wrote: "Bob Hope special. NBC Follies. I started making my first puppet."

Today, fifty years later, I’m working on an Italian "puppet opera" that will premiere this December at a gorgeous opera house in Italy (and you can come with me to see it!) It blows my mind. Maybe yours, too?

Who knows what you might write today that will blow your mind some day in the future! If you’ve never started, why not now?

If you’ve already been journaling, how about getting a fresh start with one or two or three of the journals I’ve created for myself and for others? Each journal is filled with blank lines for you to write whatever’s on your heart, plus 101 inspirational quotes at the bottom of every other page keep you encouraged as you write.

Here are the links to each journal:

(I love the quotes in these journals, collected over the years by my friend Greg Potzer at This Day’s Thought. In fact, I’m helping Greg put together a new book coming out later this year filled entirely with some of the best quotes he’s ever collected from the past 25 years… over 2,500!)