Honoring the passage of time? How do we heed time on its swift journey? One moment it is January 7 and * blink * we are celebrating Christmas 2020. Time flies.
Many psychologists will confirm that time really does zip by faster each year, Of course, time doesn’t change its speed – each minute, second, moment is the same length as another. But mentally and maybe even spiritually, our perception tells us time zooms ahead at warp speeds.
Reflection is a wonderful and effective spiritual practice for gently hitting the brakes and slowing life down a bit. Each December I reread my journal entries from the past year and write up highlights, key lessons, words and verses that resonated with my spirit and how I experienced God those 12 months.
These yearly summaries capture time and help me honor the passage of time and the journey I am on.
“People overestimate what can be done in one year, and underestimate what can be done in ten.”
J.C.R. Licklider
Besides a yearly review last month, I contained time in a new way – a 10-year review. Perfect timing since 2020 is the start of a new decade according to most experts.
So I pulled out the step ladder to reach my top shelf where my journals gather dust. I ended up collecting 4 journals plus my current one starting from December 2009 as a base extending into December 2019. I knew these year-end summary pages would simplify my exploration into the past decade but to be honest, I was a little unsure what I might discover.
I don’t regret traveling back into time, revisiting my old self and surveying my spiritual journey.
How to Honor Time through a Decade Review
My journals presented a natural way to harness and honor the passage of time. You could use calendars, letters, photos if you don’t have journals or don’t write often. Asking a good friend or family member about specific dates could also give you a window into the past.
Note significant events. Trips. Births. Deaths. Injuries. Job changes. Relationships evolutions – both ones to celebrate and others to grieve and maybe forgive.
Here are a few I noted in my own reflective trek from 2009-2019.
List events that occurred over the past 10 years.
- Key events – Ammie! (The nickname my grandkids call me – the first grandchild was born in 2009, the fifth in 2019 – bookends!! And both the only girls!) I completed my work in the church to serve as a Deacon and called and commissioned in 2013 in my parish. I grew as a writer (blog, agent, books, traditional and self-publish). My adult kids had some struggles jobwise but have now blossomed in their careers. So proud of them. My Sister-in-love remarried after being a widow and they both moved back to Ohio, living close to us. We experienced wild and wonderful travel. The Lord gave me images – trees, feather, birds/bird nests, dance. Each year I lamented my battle with weight, the ups and downs, the regaining and trying again, but celebrated in the fall of 2019 of finally reaching my weight watcher goal.
What is revealed about your true self? Reviewing each year, patterns and lessons emerged about who you are in your heart and soul. Note your deepest longings, repeated prayers, and continual yearnings.
Each year unfolded a new insight. Unfold theme will be a theme for this coming decade too. Most years reflected a deep longing for oneness with God for me. Here is how I summarized my identity that permeated every year.
- My identity – a Beloved Child of God.
My “Cannot not” statements:
- I cannot not write (2009)
- I cannot not be a contemplative (2018)
- I cannot not love (2019)
Do you have a word of the year? I was surprised I now have done this practice for 10 times.
Words of the Year
2010 Look
2011 Devotion, nurture
2012 Choice. Discern
2013 Stretch
2014 Enfold
2015 Stillness
2016 Joy
2017 Attentiveness
2018 Enough
2019 Light
2020 Sacred Space (more about this idea in few weeks)
What practices fed your spirit? What practices do you see continually longing for more of but never taking the time to do?
Essential Spiritual Disciplines – Practiced and Neglected
- Essential Practices over the decade – prayer, dialog prayer, contemplative prayer, retreats, service, rule of life, journaling, gratitude, tender presence, listening, discernment, Gazing/being with the Trinity. Where am I and where am I going? What draws me closer to God? What draws me away? Power of Questions.
- Neglected and still longed for practices – Sabbath, justice, longing for a soul companion/spiritual guide.
Every year also offered ideas, guidance, and inspiration for the next year and decade ahead.
I took the time to imagine 2030. Stop a moment and do the same. How old will you be? Your family ages (I was shocked to realize my oldest grandchild would be 21!!) My own true age in ten years flabbergasted me and I still don’t believe it.
If I were to die in 10 years or be dying, what would I regret not doing? This powerful question brought several ideas quickly to my heart that I want to be more intentional about in 2020 – not to wait any longer. To show up for God and my true calling. No regrets.
How do you honor the passage of time? The best way is to listen to its lessons through a reflective, prayer-filled review. A journey through the past decade lights our path ahead.
What did this past decade teach you?
P.S. If this topic is of interest to you, you may also like to read this post about honoring our stories.
I love this practice–such a tangible way to review the past decade! I find that if I’m not writing/journaling in the moment, I forget all the emotions and experiences so quickly. This is a wonderful reminder to do it now, even if it’s only one sentence a day.
Thank you!
Hi Shannon! I also on my birhday turn another decade so this has been in my mind and heart. How do we want to live? What would I regret not doing in the next ten years? makes you think, doesn’t it? I love the one sentence a day idea too.
Jean, this is a marvelous post, with many ideas I’d like to carry over into my own practices. I particularlly liked the idea of an annual summary — how great to be able to so easily find those touchpoints of the year in one place. I also liked the idea of looking forward.
Thank you Elizabeth! I am still analyzing and exploring this past decade and its lessons and it is guiding my path into the future too.
Have a writing group i facilitate (reflections) at our church. Shared your site and asked them to look at their decade of stories, calendars, pictures etc. Then i started working on mine. What a roller coaster ride it was, but because of this ride my faith grew. i discovered i was a crisis journaler. when a crisis hits i write. i also take notes on books i read, and quotes that touch my heart. Thanks for doing things to help us get healthy spiritually. Dana
How exciting to have a writing group at church. and thanks for sharing my site. The look back on a decade is still affecting how I am living and deciding in life. Journal whenever you want is my philosophy and in what ever manner helps you the best. Thanks again for sharing.
Dear Jean … what a helpful, comprehensive look back … which can sure prepare us to go forward with a bit more wisdom, grace, and godliness.
Thanks for sharing what worked for you.
And yes, let’s hear it for keeping those journals going yet another year!
I know we both love journaling!!
I have just recently started to journal, and I look forward at the end of the year to look back to now! I also purchased your book “Monthly Musings” to give me a written recollection of 2020, with some of this year’s journey!
I have chosen “My One Word” for 2020 Commit as I have no difficulty starting on a path to success but partway through I tend to call off, my biggest is my inability to keep my weight “healthy”. By committing everything to my LORD I will be able to stay the course!
I have grown from following you and your Seasonal Devotionals have made an impact on my spiritual life and for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart!
I am excited for you and your new practice of journaling. I know it is an essential practice for me and one I missed when I neglect. I find it especially helpful in reflection like I did in this post and on retreats. God is so good and Often I only see His preence in hindsight. Love your word of the year too. Let’s keep growing together as companions on this spiritual adventure with God!
I enjoyed traveling this decade post with you. I found the decade quote by J.C.R. Licklider profound. I tend to expect too much in too short a time. Thanks for sharing it!
Yes I loved that quote too. Made me think. Glad you stopped by and left a comment!
Wow, what dedication to journaling and what a harvest it produced. To be able to go back and read your thoughts and then see the growth and lessons learned, well done Jean. Since finding your blog mid summer 2019, you have challenged me to start journaling. At first I resisted, not sure I wanted to take the time, not sure I had the time, ( as I would want to do it well and not just random, scattered thoughts,) not sure what to write or that I would do it well,… maybe even fearful at what it would uncover. However, I did begin, first recording special Bible verses and what they meant to me, favorite quotes, a special sermon a favorite hymn and then my own thoughts. I am not sure this is the exact way one is supposed to journal since it is still new to me and I am finding my way with this new experience, but it’s a start. Still working on my word for 2020. I really enjoyed your devotional Advent book, really blessed me. Now I am reading “The Communicators Companion” and enjoying it also. Thank you, looking forward to more of your insightful writings. Will any of your speaking engagements in 2020 take you near Michigan, the greater Detroit area? Do you post where you will be speaking? Thanks Jean.
Hi Cyndi,
so good to hear from you. I usually don’t list my speaking engagements – tho I could – as a matter of fact right now I don’t have any as I am more focused on writing this year and my work at my church. Would love to get together sometime. We are pretty close. Thank you for your kind words too. So encouraging.
Just journal as you want/need. I tell people there are only two rules in journaling: Date your work and there are no other rules. LOL. What you are recording now is great and will lead you deeper I am sure. I journal about once a week, sometimes only twice a month. I journal a ton on retreats where often those deep times with God reveal deep things and moments,
Keep open to your word of the year. It will slowly reveal. I read the other day one person’s ended up with different words throughout the year. I have some years where the word never lead to much and others it opens up much.
Again thanks for your comments. Blessings!
What a beautiful treasure to have a decade of journals to go through, Jean! I love this in every way. And your “cannot not” statements fit me too. I’ve been thinking about looking back at all my words of the year. Maybe this weekend. You’re such a wise, spiritual woman! I’m so thankful to have been following your blog for so long.
Those cannot statements has rung so true for me – each evolving at different times, all during a silent retreat and all ground me and realign me to where God calls me. I do appreicate your comments and your writing too!!
Every now and then I do reflect on the decades–where we were living in 2010, 2000, 1990, etc., the main events, changes among family and friends, etc. Something I have never done is read my “God Is Faithful” journal with the intention of finding patterns, lessons, what the entries reveal about God, etc. No doubt reading a decade’s worth all at once (or nearly so) will be quite different than glancing through here and there, now and again. Thank you for the inspiration, Jean!
I love finding the patterns – they reveal so much. I found my year end summary pages so helpful in this review – glad I continue that practice. I know if I try to go back to find something, those pages help me too. Harvest those journals, Nancy! Treasure lies there. Blessings
Now you have challenged me to do the same, so off to the cottage I go to the stacks of partial journals. A bit here and a bit there. Quite random, depending on which one I picked up when. I look forward to discovering the summary. Thank you.
Hope I hope this practice feeds your soul, Janet!! Let me know!
Hope I hope this practice feeds your soul, Janet!! Let me know!
Wow, Jean, I’m so impressed that you have faithfully kept a journal throughout the past ten years, and that by doing so, you could reflect upon the entire decade, not just the past year. In 2020, I’m finally returning to journal writing – so far, so good! But to look back over this decade, I’d have to rely on photo albums I’ve made on my computer. Think I just might browse through some of those today. 🙂
Not sure if I want to think a decade ahead . . . One day at a time, one breath at a time.
Blessings, my friend!
I come from a family of journal keepers in my dad’s side so it comes naturally to me. I don’t write every day and sometimes it has only been once a month but very often during retreats and sginificant times so I have more than enough entries. It is hard to think a decade ahead – thinking speicific like ages, anniversaries, what I would like to have done helped. Happy growing, Martha!!