Quotes on Journaling

 I'm reading Randal Wright's book Make Every Day Meaningful.   He includes a lot of quotes on the importance of journaling.  And I know it is. So while I am sure there are many other places to find these quotes, I thought it might be nice to collect many of them right here.

Wilford Woodruff:  "We are the people ordained of God to establish His kingdom upon the earth, build up Zion, and prepare the way for the coming of Jesus Christ.  Now, should we not keep a journal, record, and history of the dealings of God with [us] as they transpire day by day before our eyes?  We should."

Gordon B. Hinckley said, "May I suggest that you write, that you keep journals, that you express your thoughts on paper.  Writing is a great discipline.  It is a tremendous educational effort.  It will assist you in various ways, and you will bless the lives of many-your families and others-now and in the years to come, as you put on paper some of your experiences."

Spencer W. Kimball:  "Those who keep a personal journal are more likely to keep the Lord in remembrance in their daily lives."

Orson Pratt:  "[If every person had] kept a faithful record of all that he had seen and felt of the goodness, wisdom and power of God, the Church would now have been in the possession of many thousand volumes, containing much important and useful information.  How many thousands have been miraculously healed in this Church, and yet no one has recorded the circumstances.  Is this right?  Should these miraculous manifestations of the power of God  be forgotten and pass into oblivion?  Should the knowledge of these things slumber in the hearts of those who witnessed them, and extend no further than their verbal reports will carry them?...We should keep a record because Jesus commanded it.  We should keep a record because the same will benefit us and the generations of our children after us.  We should keep a journal because it will furnish many important items for the general history of the church which would otherwise be lost."

John A.Widstoe:  "As I view it, in every family a record should be kept....That record should be the first stone, if you choose, in the family altar.  It should be a book known and used in the family circle; and when the child reaches maturity and gets out  to make another household, one of the first things that the young couple should take along should be the records of their families, to be extended by them as life goes one....Each one of us carries, individually, the responsibility of record keeping, and we should assume it."

Dr. Marshall Duke, psychology professor at Emory University, studied how family stories impact resilience.  He found that family stories "help children by evoking pride, personal history, a sense of connectedness and feelings of being special, even in the most ordinary family."  He wrote, "There are heroes in these stories, there are people who faced the worst and made it through.  And this sense of continuity and relatedness to heroes seems to serve the purpose in kids of making them more resilient."

Printed in the Millenial Star in 1840:  "Do you keep a journal?  If so, well--and you will have your reward; and if not, we would again enjoin it upon you, and upon all who have not before heard the admonition, to commence forthwith to keep a Journal, or write a history; and see to it, that what you write is strictly true and unexaggerated; so that in the end, all may know of all things concerning this last work, and all knowledge may flow together from the four  quarters of the earth, when the Lord shall make his appearing, and we all may be ready to give a full account of our mission, our ministry and stewardship, and receive the welcome tidings, "Thou has been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."