Welcome to my weekly Sunday post, Daybook Online Journal. This is my weekly post keeping up with my day to day…week to week…year to year. Although I share a “Captured” moment here, I also capture bits of my day on my Instagram account. (Or sometimes a mini rant like last night when I went to pick up my daughter from work at midnight and people were still shopping!) If you have a blog and write an online journal type of post, leave the link in the comments. If you don’t blog, I would love for you to answer the prompts in the comment section. It’s fun getting a peek into others day to day.
Daybook Online Journal
Praying for…
2015…As I start looking back at how the year went and consider changes I’d like to make for the new year, I’m praying, I stop and pray about the new year. I want to consider who God wants me to be, what He wants me to accomplish in 2015 and then let Him use me accordingly. I’m praying we can all find a pocket of quiet to have this conversation with God.
Pondering…
Mothering. This vocation is not for the thin skinned, wear your heart on your sleeve type of gal. It’s hard. I was telling Chris this morning that I wish God would have better prepared me for large family living. I quickly took those words back. He may not have necessarily prepared me in the ways I was thinking–laundry management, kitchen management, homeschooling, teens to toddler behavior…but He does offer me the strength, courage and grace to be a good mother. I need just need to rely on Him more.
Listening to…
The washing machine is swishing away…that’s it. Chris took all the kids to work the fence line gathering firewood. When they get back we’ll eat Frito Chili Pie, eat popcorn and drink hot chocolate while watching Holiday Inn .
Reading…
The NRSV Notetaker’s Bible –actually not yet, I’m waiting for it to arrive. I am so fascinated by some of the beautiful Bible journaling I see. It truly is soothing to my soul. Now some it is a bit too much for my taste, but I love the time obviously spent with the Word.
Life Management for Busy Women: Living Out God’s Plan with Passion and Purpose–This is a good book to start reading as I’m considering the year ahead.
Writing in the Margins: Connecting with God on the Pages of Your Bible
In the Kitchen…
Frito Chili Pie
Tacos
Crock Pot BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
Christmas Food
Around the House…
Always a process of trial and error. Something may work for a season and that season may be a couple of months to a couple of days and I need to evaluate why it doesn’t work now.
In Our Domestic Church…
I used to be so much better about living the liturgical year with my children. That is one resolve I have for the new year so this prompt will become a regular feature.
The Week Ahead…
obviously Christmas, but before or after…ortho appt (We just took our Christmas photo yesterday because Veronica wanted to wait until she got her braces off.), teeth cleaning, present wrapping, indoor soccer, school, chores, work..
Captured…
Each day there is more encouragement and even some laughs over on my Facebook page. Head over and “Like” me there for more.
Kaethe Pittman says
You know, if we wrapped gifts as we bought them, we could hide them in plain sight under the tree and eliminate late night wrap sessions! Sigh. Merry Christmas, Jenny. Thanks for being such a consistent presence in so many lives, including mine!
Kaethe Pittman says
Praying for my temper: it’s been woefully short this season.
Pondering my daughter’s relationship with her boyfriend. He is joining us for Christmas. I’m impatient about waiting and seeing!
Listening to the computer hum. The cat has purred herself to sleep, so even she is quiet.
Reading a short Christmas novel that was in my stack. I just finished The King’s Curse, Phillippa Gregory’s fictional biography of Blessed Margaret Pole, one of the martyrs to Henry VIII’s tyrannous reformation. Does anyone know of a good spiritual biography of this very strong and interesting woman?
In the kitchen are the makings for Butternut Squash soup, some frozen cheddar biscuits to go with that, and dozens of treats my daughter’s students gave to her.
Around the house all is calm. My husband toted all the boxes back to the basement! There is a little wrapping yet to do, and pies to bake on Wednesday, but no one is panicking.
In our domestic church we lit the fourth candle on the Advent wreath last night. In our family, that’s accompanied by reading about the visit from the Magi, so now I am thinking about the sign they saw of Christ’s coming and wondering how many of His signs I miss.
The week ahead: My husband is off from Wednesday until next Monday, and we are spending part of that time with his extended family, so I am looking toward time on the road (our favorite talking time) and many conversations with family members, big and small.
Jenny says
I love this glimpse into your life Kaethe. I need to wrap. I always put it off until Christmas Eve. I either need to do it in the next couple of days or resign myself to my bedroom on Christmas Eve…again!
Sarah H says
Hello there, I love the link you provide to the Bible journalling stuff . I love to write when I read, Iove to highlight and make notes – although none of mine are are pretty as the Pinterest ones LOL. I have stacks of notebooks upstairs. The notebook Bible you mention looks brilliant. I could do with that, there’s never enough room in my Bible!
Lectio Divinia, though I am no expert, reminds me rather of Advent. It’s about waiting on God. We read the scriptures – maybe even just a verse – and then wait on God. Sometimes I read a few chapters of the Bible, but I seem to get the most from it when it’s a verse that stands out and I ponder on it. The waiting is so worth it.
I have done a kind of Daybook thing along with a Happy Homemaker Monday post that I do sometimes if you would like to stop by my blog.
I enjoyed my visit, you have a lovely blog.
Jenny says
Lovely correlation between lectio divina and Advent Sarah. Thank you for that insight. I would love to stop by thanks for the invite.
Clare says
I am impressed at your desire to undertake the “Bible Jounalling”…I like that idea very much…Imagine! There is even a BIble you can buy that allows for that…Clearly it meets a need – otherwise they wouldn’t be publishing it. As you know I don’t do that myself…It’s probably fear of “messing up my Bible” that stops me…Crazy, I know…But – thank God we are all different! The “dialogue” above was helpful to read, thanks to you both. I like that notion of Lectio Divina via journalling…That would be good for me on “sleepy” days! I’ll get a notebook though…Isn’t it great that some how across the world people are interested in “spiritual conversation” via technology?
Juliette says
Just wondering about the seeming obsession with the Bible journaling and the notations in the Bible…such an evangelical way of ‘being’ and ‘praying’….I’m wondering if you aren’t wistful of their passion, but writing all over your Bible, and making fancy notes and pretty pictures and having a perfect Bible notebook doesn’t a perfect Christian make. I used to want to have some of the fancy things that Protestants had to study the bible and then I realized that Mother Church provides us with daily Scripture readings that lead us through at least one Gospel a year….through the ‘simple’ readings of the Daily Mass.
My goal is to read the daily readings and read some sort of inspirational book every day….I am working through a book about the saints and their Eucharistic Adoration right now. Next is Thomas Kempis….Life of Christ. I hope to be able to start reading the diary of St Faustina by Lent.
Jenny says
Hi Juliette and thanks for the comment. I appreciate your question because some of the journaling seems to me to be more appropriate if done in a sketch book. I do not nor will I have that problem as 1)I am not an artist and 2) my intention in taking notes is not to create or attempt to create a piece of art but to practice lectio divina.
I do not want to “write all over my Bible” nor do I consider making notes or highlighting passages in my Bible to be an “Evangelical way of ‘being’ and ‘praying.'” I consider it a way to spend more time with the Word. I consider it a way to visually remind myself of the instruction, counsel and promises God the Father has for me, left in the form of the written word compiled by Holy Mother Church.
Another reason for marking my Bible is to help me know the Bible better so I can share Scripture with others. This can be done either because by taking the time to make myself a note or use a specific color for a passage it impresses the passage deeper into my mind or because someone can ask me a question and I can grab my Bible and search out the text knowing I have it marked for easy reference. Just like in my missal I have notes of various people to pray for at different times during the Mass, beautiful Ordination Cards from many, many priests–both to look at and see the beautiful artwork on the front as well as a call to remember them in prayer.
I also make notes in my copy of Divine Intimacy as well as various books by or about the saints. Probably the first book I ever highlighted was Introduction to the Devout Life almost 20 years ago. Surprisingly I did not write “WOW” or “AMEN” or “AWESOME” over and over again throughout the book. I only highlighted certain passages because to this day I remember thinking “WOW” as I read the magnificent words St Francis de Sales had written.
And finally, these notes and prayers, a visual reflection of my time spent with God, will one day belong to my children. They will open my Bible and know I prayed Psalm 131 for myself and for them in times of distress because as a long time nursing mother, I could so easily relate…1 A Song of Ascents. Of David. O LORD, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its mother’s breast; like a child that is quieted is my soul.
3 O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.
They will be able to see–either through notes, prayers or worn pages–how much time I spent in St Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, the Ephesians, the Book of Sirach or Proverbs. They will see I took my vocation as wife and mother seriously because I sought God’s counsel in His Word on those most important areas of my life. They will get a glimpse into some of the most private and personal conversations I had about them and someday those conversations noted in my Bible may be a source of consolation or reassurance to them.
Again, I appreciate your comment and I hope I have cleared up any concerns you may have about me taking notes or some how marking my Bible. It is done with the utmost sense of reverence and awe and is in no way a sacrilege, a wistful desire or an attempt at some shallow sense of perfection.
Dianna@The Kennedy Adventures says
Jenny,
What a beautiful idea to pass on to your children! (making a mental note to grab a pretty new notebook and place it right beside my Bible).
I love my Bible edition, but there’s no room for notes. Highlighting, yes, but no notes. I haven’t found one yet that fits my needs perfectly. I’m planning on a notebook, and lots of post it notes.
Jenny says
I know Dianna, I love my RSV large print, but there’s not much margin room for notes or prayers. It’s ok that I have multiple Bibles because I also happen to have multiple children, lol!