There are a lot of valid ways to manage a personal quiet time.  I don’t even use the same one all the time; I use different tools in different seasons.  But one tool I recently realized I’d never blogged about is my quiet time journal.

Choosing a Journal

Strathmore 400 Series Recycled Sketch Pad, 5.5×8.5 in.

Everyone will have their own favorites, but I personally prefer to use a 5.5×8.5″ or 6×9″ wire-bound sketchbook.  The paper is thick enough that if I want to  use a felt-tipped pen or glue something on, it can handle it.  More importantly, it lies flat and stays open so I don’t have to try to hold my journal open while I’m taking notes.

(I prefer one without perforations, because I don’t want the pages falling out, but those are hard to find anymore.  The ones I have are what you see to the left — although I think they predate the perforated pages.  I think that this one and this one lack perforations, but I haven’t used them and can’t vouch for them.)

Page Numbering

I can’t take credit for this page-numbering method; I read about it years ago on Craftster, from user “Jillie.”  (The same user that shared the idea about sticky notes for prepping journal pages.)  It’s great, though, for this kind of journal where you might have different page layouts or “templates” for different purposes.

The idea is that the page numbering has two parts (or three, depending on how you perceive the breakdown).  The first part is to just simply number the pages.  1, 2, 3, 4, 5… But leave a little space to the left and right of each number.

Now…to the left and/or right of each number you’re going to use an arrow that looks like a greater than or less than symbol.  (<  >).  Inside the arrow, you’ll write in the number of the previous or the next page that uses the same format.  If there isn’t a previous page or there isn’t a next page, you use an = instead of an arrow, so the arrows only point one direction.

Like this:

This is page 11 in my journal.  The last page of the same kind is page 10, and the next page of the same kind is page 16.

If we go back to page 10, we’ll find that this is the first page of its kind in this journal, so there is no previous page to point to with an arrow.

This is much easier to actually do than it is to explain!

You don’t have to use this method at all, but I’ve found it helpful in my quiet time journals, because it lets me keep different kinds of interactions (see below) in the same journal, without feeling like I’m wasting pages or getting lost.

My Main Quiet Time Journal “Template”

The bulk of my quiet time journals are taken up by my personal Bible study notes — observations on the particular text of Scripture I’m currently reading through.  I set it up like this:

There’s the date, and then the Scripture reference, on the same line.

Then I write out the Scripture as a sort of “blockquote” below the reference, leaving the area under the date blank, like a margin.  Sometimes I highlight portions with colored pencils (which is also what I use if I’m highlighting in my Bible).

If I have commentary, I write that in the “margin” I left.

This arrangement has enabled me to fit a lot of information into a fairly compact space, while still being able to make sense of it almost at a glance.

Other Pages

Some of my other pages are just freeform.  Maybe there’s a great quote that I write out to fill up a page, or maybe I’m just doing some general journaling about spiritual matters, writing out a prayer, etc.

But you can also include other particular “page layouts,” like this gratitude page.

(Yes, these photos are old.  The journal layout’s still the same.)

So with the numbering system described above, I can start one of these pages, and just continue it until it’s full, and meanwhile, I could fill up the next eight pages with textual notes like I showed in the previous section…and the bottom of this page would point me right to the page I need to go to when I’m ready to pick this up on a new page.

Why Use a Journal?

You might be wondering why you’d want to use a journal at all.  I mean, those notes I made in my journal I could as easily make in the margins of my Bible, right?  I could.  And if that works for you, that’s great!  This is not “The Right Way to Do Quiet Times” or “The Only Approach to Personal Bible Study.”  Use whatever works for you (within reason, of course)!

But I find that the chronological nature of this makes it easy for me to look back over past entries and see growth.  I can see what God was working on in me.  I can where I had to be hit over the head with the same message again and again and again — and I can see where I actually learned the thing that I was supposed to be learning.

And it’s just easier, in general, for me to look back on the lessons God’s given me.  When I’m reading my Bible, my focus is on the text itself.  I have some notes in there, but they aren’t my focus.  When I’m looking back through my spiritual journal, my focus is on the messages that were most relevant to me at those particular points in time.