MY LESSON TODAY IN RELIEF SOCIETY ON JOURNAL KEEPING

I am not the best journal keeper. It seems whenever I have to give a lesson I pick a subject that I, myself need. I DO write my personal history stories, usually one a week--I started this in in October of 2006--my good friend, Pam started this group, for which I will always be grateful--so I have about 70 stories written, a few of them are recorded on this blog.

The following are my favorite parts of my lesson. My very favorite parts are written in dark red. All the references can be found on LDS.org, under Gospel Library, then under Magazines. The one reference I took from the Internet has the URL.

I hope you will realize that your blogs are a form of Journals. But, perhaps like you, I don't back-up my blog. So, if it disappears so will every thing I have written. Not that it's great literature or anything but.... Maybe we should think of saving our blogs, somehow.


Lynne's Talk on Journal Keeping--given May 4th, 2008 in Relief Society in the Edgemont 6th Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

"… I promise you that if you will keep your journals and records, they will indeed be a source of great inspiration to your families, to your children, your grandchildren, and others, on through the generations. Each of us is important to those who are near and dear to us—and as our posterity read of our life’s experiences, they, too, will come to know and love us. And in that glorious day when our families are together in the eternities, we will already be acquainted.

"...What could you do better for your children and your children’s children than to record the story of your life, your triumphs over adversity, your recovery after a fall, your progress when all seemed black, your rejoicing when you had finally achieved? Some of what you write may be humdrum dates and places, but there will also be rich passages that will be quoted by your posterity.

"...We hope you will do this, our brothers and sisters, for this is what the Lord has commanded, and those who keep a personal journal are more likely to keep the Lord in remembrance in their daily lives." (“President Kimball Speaks Out on Personal Journals,” New Era, Dec 1980, 26)


"Journaling decreases the symptoms of asthma, arthritis, and other health conditions.
It improves cognitive functioning.
It strengthens the immune system, preventing a host of illnesses.
It counteracts many of the negative effects of stress."
(The Benefits of Journaling for Stress Management Elizabeth Scott, M.S., http://stress.about.com/od/generaltechniques/p/profilejournal.htm )

"The following are some of President Kimball’s suggestions for what to write about:
• Friendships
• Your testimony
• Accomplishments
• Blessings you receive
• Things you do, say, or think
• Things that make you happy
• Things you like about yourself
• Experiences with the Holy Ghost
• Challenges and how you handled them"
(“President Kimball Speaks Out on Personal Journals,” Ensign, Dec. 1980, 61)

Family and Personal Histories
“Elizabeth thumbed through several of the binders, reliving volume by volume much of her father’s life. Then her eyes rested upon a title: ‘To My Family on the Sixtieth Anniversary of My Birth.’ That event had passed some twelve years ago. Slowly Elizabeth read through the paragraphs. They told of the old family home, of her grandparents, and of her mother. Her father had written expressions to each of his children. A gentle peace settled over Elizabeth as she read through the lines written to her. She felt as though her father were still present, speaking to her personally. All too soon, the paragraphs closed: ‘I want you to continue to be faithful and obedient until you come to know Him [the Savior] as I know Him.’ “As she had read, a resolve grew in Elizabeth’s heart to follow her parents’ noble example and to strengthen the family ties they had cherished” (Relief Society Courses of Study 1977–78, 8).

…Not everything we write is important. Not everything we think is important. But occasionally we are in tune with God. Inspiration sometimes comes to us without our even recognizing it. At such times the Lord whispers things into our minds, and what one then writes can become inspirational to one’s descendants. When we write by the Spirit and they read by the Spirit, there is a godly communication between us and them which makes that which we write become meaningful and a source of inspiration to our descendants. (Theodore M. Burton, Ensign, Jan. 1977)

"...Since the beginning of time, Heavenly Father has commanded his children to keep personal records of their lives. And modern prophets have encouraged us to keep journals throughout our lives." (I neglected to copy the reference for this quote.)

"...Our worries can become less worrisome and our fears less fearful when we write them down. Explaining our thoughts and feelings on paper can help relieve us of the turmoil and distress we might have felt. Expressing private feelings on paper can help to heal private hurts.

"Our journals should become our own books of personal revelation. If we are careful and diligent in recording the promptings and insights we receive, we will begin to see a pattern of how the Spirit works in our lives. We will become more aware of the fact that we are indeed being guided in ways that we may not have recognized, and we will become more responsive to these thoughts, ideas, and influences as they come to us. We can be blessed as we write about our prayers and answers to prayers, our scriptural understandings, and our struggles to draw closer to the Lord." (Gawain and Gayle J. Wells, “Hidden Benefits of Keeping a History,” Ensign, Jul 1986)

"Many of us have tried to find written material on our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on. Generally, the earlier the generation, the less information about their lives we can find. Will our posterity meet with the same frustrations we have experienced when they search out information about our lives?

"Do we want our posterity to make the same mistakes we have? Or do we want them to know of the testimonies we have of the gospel and what experiences gave us those testimonies?" (Jimmy B. Parker, “A Record of Our Kingdoms,” Ensign, Aug 1976)

In conclusion, Journals provide the stories of our trials, triumphs, hurts and joys so that our posterity might have faith that they can persevere through their trials, triumphs, hurts and joys. That they might see we triumphed so that through the Savior’s atonement we can all sit down together in heaven.

I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen