Three Journals: Children's Record, Memory's Ledger, God's Complete Book

Isaiah 30:8 commands the prophet to write: "Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book." Joseph S. Exell's Victorian instruction distinguishes three journals worthy of consideration.

First, the journal you may keep. A child spending pocket-money on pen and ink should record not endless self-reflection ("few capital I's"), but observable facts—fresh places, persons encountered, books read, sights in town and country, as Doyle and Dickens did as lads. Such discipline develops faculties of attention, memory, and reproduction; it prepares the mind for science, poetry, and speech. In after-life, these pages awaken tender memories and gratitude to Adonai.

Second, the journal you must keep. Your brain is a self-acting ledger where every past deed, word, and thought lies hidden in invisible ink. Memory's fire brings it forth. But you also write daily in others' journals—in the minds of parents, siblings, playfellows, teachers. Write there good and pleasant things; be careful what record you inscribe.

Third, the journal God keeps. When Adonai commanded the prophet to write that the Jews were "lying children...that will not hear the Word of the Lord" (Isaiah 30:9), He recorded a terrible entry—"that it may be for the time to come, for ever and ever" (30:8). God makes no omissions. He puts all in: good and bad. We deceive ourselves; we hide much from friends. But "Thou God seest me."