I get incredibly excited when I receive letters. Whether they are from retreats I’ve been on or run, or whether it was birthday cards in the mail growing up, it’s exciting to hold written love in my hands.
My kids in the ministry I run are always leaving me little love notes on my desk, with bible verses, witty phrases, stickers, and affirmations. With my family: it’s one thing for my mom to tell me she loves me; don’t get me wrong – I appreciate it deeply. But what’s even more exciting is when she writes that she loves me. It’s pretty much written documentation of her love for me, and I remember her little notes in my lunchbox at school and on my pillow. What we couldn’t always say with voices, we could say with a pen. And don’t get me wrong again – I still want to hear her say it. But love can be expressed through so many ways, and writing, I find, is a less frequented one these days. Therefore, it is in a subconscious way more appreciated. With my mom’s notes and my kids’ notes, I can always go back to them when I need a reminder, are having a bad day, need encouragement, or anything in between. Love written is, in this way, love eternal.
If we think about it, God’s love for us is shown in countless ways. We hear it through song, we see it through the Eucharist and crosses, and we read it in scripture. And that’s a beautiful way to, at quite literally any moment, open up something tangible to see His love. Written. Documented. Bound and sealed by time for centuries. It’s really forever. Love written is love eternal.
God’s love for me is documented forever.
The written word is a beautiful Christian love language. After all, God’s written love language – the Bible – is truly a documentation of His love and mercy. It’s a gift.
Why not do it for Him?
Writing is beautiful. It’s a lost art form, I’d say, but one that, as I grew older, I began to appreciate more. Again, it’s one thing to talk about something, but it’s another thing to read it. You almost have to think about it more; you don’t have to think before you speak (though I encourage you to), but you have to think before you write. It’s extra work. And that extra work, for me, is worth it. I find I pray best this way.
One of my (many) Lenten goals this past year was to journal every day. My Lenten Prayer Journal is my 3rd, and the one I have been most proud of so far. It’s truthfully the one goal that I not only kept during the entire 46 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, but it was the one I actually looked forward to every single day. This was my “best Lent ever” because I felt closest to God. I felt like I grew to know Him more. I couldn’t wait to fill up 300 pages with written words, colored pictures, messily attempted calligraphy, prayer cards, bulletin clippings, notes from meetings, song lyrics, scribbles, scripture, and most importantly, prayer.
I couldn’t wait to write to Him.
Prayer is a love language. It’s us telling God that we love and trust Him enough to talk to Him. After all, communication in any relationship is foundational to its success. And documenting this communication in a journal is simply one way of doing it.
It’s love written.
I fell deeper in love with Jesus as I wrote about His love for me, and my love for Him. The more you get to know someone, the more you like them, maybe even love them. This reigns true for your relationship with the Lord. And in writing to Him everyday, in reading about Him everyday, in talking to Him everyday, I fell deeper and deeper in love with my Savior.
It’s love written, for a love that surpasses all written expression.
The art of prayer journaling is fluid. You’ll find countless resources on how to do it so it’s a perfectly articulated and calculated art form for devotion. But I encourage you, if that’s not your thing, to see it as another way of telling the Lord you love Him, enough to take the time to sit and write down that love. Even if you only do it once, God sees it. And you tried it out. And trying new (healthy) things is always good, especially when it’s for the Lord.
If you think your prayer is fruitless, first know that nothing is wasted on God. He hears you. And He’s thankful that you’re talking to Him. That’s the first thing, and a lesson it took me years to really learn. But the second thing is that prayer, regardless of the form it takes, should also mean something to you. It took me years to learn this, too. Talking to God shouldn’t be seen as a chore.
Talking to God is something I constantly do. Sometimes (okay, 80% of the time), out loud. But I lose focus. I cut my conversations short because I start thinking of something else. With a prayer journal, my attention is completely, without interruption, on God. It’s a form of focused prayer that helps me show my love for Him.
Just as people believe differently, people pray differently. People worship, write, think, speak, read, and listen to others in order to pray. If you want to try the written way, my advice is:
- Find something you love to write in and love to write with. Actually make the investment in finding something you think is beautiful for God. It doesn’t have to be expensive; it just has to be something you picked just for Him and that you look forward to filling and carrying around with you.
- Think about where and when you’ve had the most fruitful conversations with God, and where you’ve learned the most about Him. Try to replicate that environment. If you find that you do this outside, journal outside. If you find that you’ve learned the most while watching videos about Jesus on YouTube, write important messages from these videos. Your prayer journal is a collection and a reflection – find the things to collect, first.
- Just to pick up a pen and write. You’ll find your style. I love to ask questions, vent, praise God, to thank Him… anything I do in prayer, I do in my journal (except doodling. I can’t do that with words.) Don’t overthink it.
- Men: it’s not a feminine form of prayer. Think of the countless men of faith who have written to God and about God. Look at David and the Psalms – love written.
- Know that your “attempts” are appreciated. Give God an inch, and He’ll give you a mile.
- Keep at it for a bit. If it’s fruitful, wonderful. If not, that’s okay. Don’t do it “because you have to.” Don’t do it because you feel guilty not doing it. Do it because you want to talk to God in this way. And if you start, you don’t have to do it forever. Your relationship with God and the ways you communicate will evolve.
- There’s no right or wrong way to do this. It’s your relationship with God, and it’s your heart – your love story – on paper. It’s yours. Love written.
If you need a more practical place to start a “collection,” I recommend using the following, and then reflecting (praying) over:
- Scripture (Lectio Divina)
- Videos
- Homilies
- Blog/social media posts
- Ministry meeting topics
- Song lyrics
And if you need solid steps, here they are:
- Buy a journal you like.
- Find a quiet place.
- Find something to look at like scripture, a video, or lyrics.
- Write down your thoughts.
- Don’t limit yourself – write down what you’re thinking, and offer up these words to Him out of love.
This is truly just another way to talk to God. And when you look back, you’ll see your progress – how have your prayers been answered? How have you grown? How have you gotten closer to God through this?
When we look through the Bible and sacred texts we, again, see God’s love story for us: love written.
Whether it works for you or not, trying to love God in another way is cool. Give it a shot. Love written is love seen by the Lord.
