Diary

Did you ever keep a diary? Did you have one of those neat little books with a lock and key that you had to hide from your kid brother or your parents? Did you write down your innermost thoughts and record your deepest questions for the universe? Or were you one who just wrote down the bare facts of what happened that day? [got up, ate breakfast, math test, came home, supper, bed] Have you ever looked back at a diary or journal from bygone years? Did you recognize that person? Are you the same person?

One conversation at our recent get-together with new high priests centred around the notion of “I’m not the same person I was when I first felt a call to ministry.” But how are you different? And how do you know you’re different? How do you track your story?

Some write diaries; some keep journals; some read back through old day-timers or office organizers. Maybe you look at snap-shots or keepsakes from events, ticket stubs, church bulletins, prize ribbons or report cards from school days.
All these things are the building blocks of our life stories. Each one is a story and each is a small bit of the bigger story. Just like our blog posts as “What’s the Good Word” unfolds.

A blog is a kind of diary. The word comes from “web log” equivalent to a ship’s log, kept every day by the captain. But this diary is kept on a computer and posted on “the world-wide-web.” I read recently that the country that has the largest number of blogs is Japan; and that Japan (I didn’t know this either) has a long tradition of keeping diaries!

If you’re interested in the idea of Blogging as a way of keeping a congregation’s life story you can read it here. Just as a diary entry is a very personal notation, a tiny piece of an individual’s life story, so are our blog-posts, personal commentary on what’s happening in this part of a much larger unfolding story. Our gathered high priest ordinands considered ways available to stay in touch, to create support networks, to learn from each other and share perspectives. The essay I’ve cited suggests using a blog as a way to preserve our congregation’s history. You might want to consider that.

How will we know who we are and how we’ve grown and changed or what has endured and remained stable and solid in our lives without tracking our story? Join our blogging community. Read along or send us your stories to be packaged in with the rest. These are exciting times and it’s good that we’re keeping a diary.

Posted by Marion