Photo by Jan Kahánek on Unsplash
I’ve mentioned before that I tend to get stuck being in the moment so much that I would struggle to reflect on the past or look forward to the future. It’s why I named my blog The Windshield and the Rearview. It serves as a reminder that I can’t just embrace that specific moment in the car and take my hands off the wheel. I have to be present while keeping my eyes on what’s ahead and be aware of what things from the past might affect how I “drive the car”.
Last year, I knew something was wrong. I knew I wasn’t being as intentional as I wanted with my spiritual development. I was struggling to understand why I kept making the same mistakes and why I continued to feel the way I did about certain aspects of life.
God is good though, and He brought me into the light. He led me to ask the following question, “how am I supposed to break out of past behavior if I’m minimally conscious of it and don’t reflect?” It led to the next conclusion that I not only needed to reflect, but I needed to chart a course of action based on my reflections. I needed a journal.
I knew I didn’t want just any type of reflection journal. I also knew that I wanted to create something guided and intensive. I looked through A LOT of different guided journals for about a month. Nothing seemed to fit what I had in mind.
I wanted to reflect on many of the same questions each week but also build toward something over the course of the year. I also wanted to incorporate a reminders to connect with people who demonstrated maturity in the specific aspect of my life that I was struggling with. After not finding exactly what I wanted, I opted to flex my creative skills and apply them toward creating my own reflection journal that fit my needs. After a lot of planning and designing and redesigning, I ended up with this:
I incorporated a monthly calendar, note pages, and to-do-lists in what became a over 300 page monster I can't even fit into a 1 inch binder (I have half of it in the binder at a time). It was a ton of effort to tie it all together, but even if it is impractically large, it was totally worth it. While I will definitely tweak things for my reflection journal next year, the planning helped me really buy into the goal of being more structured and organized.
I also ended up tying my journal into my 2020 word of the year process. That meant that I structured it to reflect on how I was growing more PROACTIVE. I also set it up with specific goals and questions to guide me spiritually throughout the year toward choosing a 2021 word of the year.
It has been amazing how much it has helped my perspective stay grounded in the present while being guided by both the past and the future. It gives me a much more complete picture of how a life as a disciple of Christ actually looks. It is purposeful, intentional, reflective, and led by the Spirit’s conviction and guidance.
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