Journaling 101 with Jessica Butler

Journal Exercise:

Spring is filled with emotions. With Easter, there are tears of joy and attempts to understand Christ's sacrifice for us. And with spring, it seems that couples are getting together. There's wedding bells and children laughing outside. Picnics are starting again. It's almost time for school to let out. Shorts, tank tops, and swim suits are unpacked. The barbeques are out of the garage and people are starting to wash their cars in the driveway. After the winter, it seems that the emotions spring brings are even more poignant. But how to describe emotions?

Choose one that you are feeling right now. Close your eyes and think of everything that has happened, or that could happen, to cause that emotion. Then write it down. But don't write down the actual emotion. Write down every possible thing you can think of to convey this emotion. Use concrete images and all your senses. How would joy smell? How would excitement taste? Smell, taste, and touch are three of the least used senses. See if you can capture them in this description.

If you're having a hard time coming up with a way to start, choose an emotion and then, on a scrap piece of paper, "Love is like a man and woman sitting on the park bench in front of the fountain, holding hands." When you start writing in your journal, all you'd write is: "a man and woman sat on the park bench in front of the fountain, holding hands."

If your entry isn't too personal, share it with a friend and see if they can guess what emotion you're writing about. And if you still want more, try another emotion. There's plenty to go around! For added fun, see if your friend will join you and write about the same emotion. See what you come up with together!

Random Prompt:

To use this, just choose one of these two phrases below and write whatever comes to your mind. Maybe it ties into something that has happened to you, something you learned, a dream you had, or something you hope will happen. Or maybe it's totally made up. If possible, try to spend at least five minutes with each phrase and have fun.

Blown away with or fragrant blue

Bible Verse:

I'll give you a Bible verse and now I want you to write what you think about this verse in your journal. Simple and a great way to dig deeper in God's word.

Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:8