Part of the magic of journaling is that out of stillness comes creativity. (Don't believe me? Be still and see how many ideas come). Even more so, being still allows us to connect the dots between ideas in order to create something bigger. Here's an example:
I play Words with Friends with my brothers.
Yesterday I had the letters for "haiku."
I remembered writing haiku poems in 8th grade.
When I sat to journal today, an old journal was opened to a gratitude list.
Gratitude lists have been my prompts for writing poems, so...
today I wrote some haiku.
Doing so gave me joy.
Joy connects me to God,* the greatest Creator.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is how Laura Numeroff came up with her children's books like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie!
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, the community and I would love to hear from you! Your comment could have a major impact on someone else. Most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.
Reflective questions:
1. What's a recent "connect-the-dots" story from your own life?
2. What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)
* I use the term God as a universal term. You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, Sensibility, etc. better suits you today. It is not for me to decide.
Photo by MH, Mount Healthy, OH
Note: These posts are part of a broader call to do spiritual journaling (read more at CardinalTouch.net)
I heard the word " discernment" for the first time several years ago but never gave it any attention. This past New Years I was at a "New Year Retreat " and walked a labyrinth when I got to the center I picked an angel card that had the word " discernment " on it. This did not make me happy because I did not want to do the work that God was asking me to do.
ReplyDeleteIn March I was asked to co lead a group in our church that would be studying discernment .
Connect the dots is what I did and now I will be chairing small groups to teach discernment.