Day One

How much stuff happens throughout the day that you forget and wish you could remember? I'm not talking about scheduling things or meetings. I'm talking about little events in your life that you would like to remember in a year or five years and laugh about again? Enter Day One. 

Day One is an amazing little app that I have been using over the last year or so. It is basically a cloud based journal. What makes it unique is that you can upload videos or pictures to it and they are included in your journal entry. I am a pen and paper guy normally, but I struggle with organization. This helps me log my days, enter funny things my kids do, log conversations I have with my wife, and much more in a way that can be easily organized. I can then not only look back at a particular day, but I can tag posts so I can find them easily. Here are the top three ways that I use it in my everyday life. 

1. Remembering things about my kids
With Day One, I can easily record my daughter's voice and save it in an entry. When she learns something new, I can write about it. I have logged doctor visits with our newest daughter and been able to record her stats. I can quickly and easily enter something funny that happened at home or a key event in the life of one of my children. I will upload a picture of my daughter playing with her baby or of my other daughter sleeping in my arms. This allows me to log moments with my family and come back to them in a year or ten and relive those moments, reflect on how my kids have grown, remember discussions I had with my wife, and much more. 

2. Bible reading journal
I will typically add a journal entry that logs things that I have gleaned from my Bible study. This allows me to capture things that God is teaching me for review later. It also is a way that I can reflect back on where I've been and see God's faithfulness in growing my faith. I'm able to do this not only for time in the Word, but also for things I'm praying for and conversations I have with others where God shows me something. I will also typically add an entry after I preach or teach that has the text and a brief outline of what was taught. 

3. Personal journal
This has been really helpful in a lot of ways. I'm able to log different life lessons I've learned, projects I'm working on, and notes on books I'm reading as well as different life events that transpire during the day. This typically looks like a "day in review" post. I will briefly think through my day and recap it as a journal entry. I'm able to recall details at the end of the day that I would forget the next morning. This allows me to get a complete picture of how the day went for future reference. 

The Greatest Benefit
The biggest benefit I have seen from this so far is this has been a huge source of encouragement for me personally. I can look back at "this day" from years past and get an instant pick-me-up. I'm able to see how God has seen me through trials, answered prayers, taught me things, blessed me with experiences, as well as just take a second and marvel at His goodness to me in the family He has provided me with. I'm able to reflect on His care and goodness in the midst of a rough day and be reminded that no matter what I go through, He will always be faithful and I always have a reason to give thanks. I would highly recommend some kind of journaling. It is amazing to look back at where you have been and see God's work in your life in all the little things that get crowded out and we forget about. 

​JH

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Jon Hawkins

Jon is a follower of Jesus, husband to Carlee, Papa to Finleigh and Ainsley, and a pastor at Arbor Drive Community Church in York, Nebraska.