I have tried to get into journaling for a number of years. I have done a number of things to try to forge faithfulness in this discipline, however, with each new idea or method my enthusiasm and consistency slowed waned. In the fall of 2007 I was faced afresh with the reality of aging, the brevity of life, the goodness of God, the desire to capture God’s faithfulness in our lives for our kids to see when the get older, and a burden to train my heart to daily revisit and rejoice in the manifold blessings of divine grace.
Having then been convinced of the need to journal I needed a canvas. So I decided to research various journals. Nothing caught my eye initially, everything seemed like the same old journal and none of it really reflected my life or something I wanted to carry around daily in my bag. Nothing caught my eye until I came across the Moleskine.
According to their website the Moleskine…
Moleskine is the heir of the legendary notebook used for the past two centuries by great artists and thinkers, including Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and Bruce Chatwin.
This trusty, pocket-sized travel companion held their sketches, notes, stories, and ideas before they became famous images or beloved books. The little black notebook, with its typical rounded corners, elastic closure, and expandable inner pocket, was originally a nameless object. It was produced by a small French bookbinder, that supplied Parisian stationery shops frequented by the international literary and artistic avant-garde for more than a century.
So perhaps the history initially attracted me but it takes more than this to keep me. I checked out a large notebook without lines at a local bookstore. I was impressed with the firm (cardboard bound) black cover and the quality of the thread bound acid free pages. The elastic closure works well and is extremely durable. In addition to a bookmark, there is an expandable inner pocket made of cardboard and cloth that is perfect for you to keep lists, important notes, or other items of interest.
Some have critiqued the pages and their transparency. I have not found it to be an issue. I typically use a Pilot V5 but the ever popular G2 works fine as well. I have also used a Fountain Pen and (as is always the case) as long as the ink gets time to dry it is fine.
I use my Moleskine as a journal to capture what God is doing in my life, what he is teaching me, how he is convicting me, chronicles of family events, various random thoughts about life and ministry, as a prayer journal, sermon notebook, and anything else that happens upon my mind that may contribute to the bottom line. It truly has been a great addition to the regular starting lineup. Recently I picked up a couple of small journals for my boys; now they are rockin’ this Moleskine and filling it up with their adolescent pithiness.
If you are looking for something to help you with journaling the Moleskine may be the right fit. There are also many other versions available to meet different needs. You can find more info here. Here is the journal I have been talking about on Amazon.
