Journals. . .

A friend has sparked a thought of mine about journals. I have always been a journal keeper - although not always a very good one. In fact, the only times I would feel a strong need to write in a journal was when something amazing happened in my life, or there was a guy I really liked. For my college years I have about 5 journals, remarkably filled. Since becoming engaged, however, I have only wrote in my journal twice. Once to tell about Scott and how we met, and once to record Daniel's birth. I was suddenly living, and didn't have time or desire to record every detail.

Of course, I still write. I have random thoughts and feelings recorded everywhere. My journal has become scattered, filling paper, computers, and margins of books. I kept every notebook from college, so my thoughts would remain. My children will have alot of fun poking through all of my stuff to see what randomness I came up with.

I have also decided to start writing the stories of my life. It is hard to write these stories while you are in the middle of them - life happens fast and there isn't always a faithful recording. I used to try to "catch up" but that never did justice to the experience. Now, however, I can take several days or longer to give each story the attention it is due.

As I thought about journal keeping, it brought to mind the book of Nephi. Here was a prophet who kept a journal. His was not the typical, record daily what occurred to you, account. It was the stories of his life, his favorite scriptures, his poetry, his hopes, his fears, his struggles with God. This journal was kept specifically for his children, so they would know of his faith and trust in Heavenly Father. He didn't muddle it with day to day insignificants. We do know that he kept other records, he seemed to like things kept in a topical fashion. He mentions another record that would record the daily things of his people, so we can assume that he may have had others as well.