{"id":90,"date":"2010-01-13T23:59:37","date_gmt":"2010-01-13T23:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=90"},"modified":"2012-07-19T15:39:20","modified_gmt":"2012-07-19T22:39:20","slug":"the-daily-practice-that-has-changed-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2010\/01\/13\/the-daily-practice-that-has-changed-my-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The Daily Practice that Fuels My Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mechanic who handed me back the keys to my truck the other day gave me much more than a smooth running vehicle. He also gave me a powerful reminder of something I sometimes take for granted.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the power of not only keeping a spiritual journal, but of revisiting it\u2026often.<\/p>\n

My friend the mechanic said, \u201cScott, years ago you mentioned how you not only keep a spiritual journal, but that you re-read previous entries. I\u2019ve started doing this, and the difference it has made in my life is incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

This exchange reminded me again just how powerful this practice has been in my own life. The practice is really very simple. I take time most (not all) mornings to jot down my reflections as to what God is doing in my life. Sometimes I write out my prayers, and other times I\u2019ll just vent on paper.<\/p>\n

I started this in the mid-\u201890s, and have kept it going almost every day ever since.<\/p>\n

But the power, I discovered, was when I got in the habit of re-reading entries from the past. The rhythm I\u2019ve gotten into is to read what I journaled on this day ten, five, one year previous. What this has done for me is to:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Remind me of God\u2019s faithfulness: <\/strong>There\u2019s nothing like being reminded about something you were praying about in the past, and then remembering how God answered that prayer.<\/li>\n
  2. Give me boldness in my prayer life: <\/strong>Anytime I see God\u2019s faithfulness in print (in my own handwriting) it tends to \u201cup the voltage\u201d in how I pray today.<\/li>\n
  3. Start my day with a renewed sense of gratitude: <\/strong>When you have a daily dose of remembering God\u2019s goodness it changes your outlook. <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If you\u2019re looking for renewed spiritual vitality in 2010, give it a try\u2026 and stick with it. I\u2019m confident you\u2019ll find the results worth the brief investment of time.<\/p>\n

    What spiritual practices have been most powerful in your life?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The mechanic who handed me back the keys to my truck the other day gave me much more than a smooth running vehicle. He also gave me a powerful reminder of something I sometimes take for granted. It\u2019s the power of not only keeping a spiritual journal, but of revisiting it\u2026often. My friend the mechanic…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,478,7],"tags":[924,923,349,921,729,922,925],"class_list":["post-90","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discipline2","category-featured","category-leadership","tag-boldness","tag-faithfulness","tag-gratitude","tag-journaling","tag-prayer","tag-reminders","tag-spiritual-practices"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2390,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions\/2390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}