This week, I've been reading The Journals of Jim Elliot. For those who aren't familiar with him, he was a missionary in the 1950's who was killed (along with four other missionaries) by the people he was trying to reach in Ecuador. Here's how he started his journal during his junior year in college (1948):
"What is written in these pages I suppose will someday be read by others than myself. For this reason I cannot hope to be absolutely honest in what is herein recorded, for the hypocrisy of this shamming heart will ever be putting on a front and dares not to have written what is actually found in its abysmal depths."
Elliot was a wise man, especially for as young as he was when he penned those words. I find myself in the same struggle when writing in my devotional journal or in my regular journal. But the longer I write in both journals, the more I want to be honest with myself--even though somebody else might eventually read it.
Having a place to record thoughts and emotions; struggles and frustrations; and various other tidbits of information is a good thing, even if it doesn't paint the author in the best light. Like Elliot, I know my journal won't be a perfect reflection of who I am, but when I do record my faults, it makes them seem more real, and it makes me want to do something about them.
