On Monday, the MOVE Interns arrived for the summer. For the last 4 or 5 years one of their first tasks has been to make a journal they would use for the summer....and I am the person responsible for teaching them how.
No, I am not the artsy type and I don't spend a whole lot of time sewing (although I did win a Home Economics award my senior year of high school - it was really because I made Sweet Tea and Brownies every day), but this is the 2 hours every year where my arts and crafts talents shine.
When I first came to CIY, I worked for our Discipleship program, and one of the session was teaching anywhere from 100-400 high school students how to make a journal. I did this 10 times and it was probably the most frustrating 10 moments of that year. Anyway, because of my experience with Discipleship, Ryan Claborn, the internship director, asked if I would teach the interns how to make journals.
It can be a little complicated, involving foam board, paper (obviously), glue stick, kraft paper, a tapestry needle, thread, push pin and ruler. I won't go into the details of actually making it (hey, I had to explain it yesterday to 25 college students), but every year when it is over I am glad I had the opportunity to teach them because it gets me thinking about journaling more.
When I was an intern in 2002, I kept a journal of different events that took place that summer. I came into the summer not having a clue what to expect. It wasn't until last summer when I picked up the journal from 2002 that I truly appreciated this discipline. I was able to look back and remember not only moments I had forgotten about, but also look back and see situations that shaped my life. I'll be honest - I'm not good at it. I can be lazy. But, I want to be good at it. I want to look back in 5 or 10 years and remember even more events that shaped my life.
Thanks to yesterday, I have a brand new journal. It doesn't have a ton of pages in it, but I have a fresh opportunity to keep up with my journal.
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2 comments:
I echo that. My summer ('02) with CIY was good and hard at the same time. There have been several times that I have looked back on that journal and laughed at many of the experiences - Weekend Believe event in Anderson (the hardest event I've EVER worked), Paige and all that comes along with her, "Trip the Light Fantastic" by Jason Miller, rear-ending someone in the van with J.C., party at the lack, Zus...need I say more. It's a great experience and I'm sure you do a great job working with Ryan and the rest of the staff to make it even better.
Hey Chase,
My name is Jim, and I recently made a journal... including the paper part...
it is way cool... you take old paper (like in a recycling bin), soak it in water for a day, then blend the soaked paper in a blender (so it is like a pulp), and then you take a pre shaped screen (like from a window), put the pulp in a bucket of water, take the screen and place it on the bottom, lift up the screen, and the pulp is pulled up on the screen... you then take the screen with pulp, place it on piece of cloth, put the cloth in the oven, cook the pulp till it drys and you have one piece of paper...
okay, so what i am trying to say, is "I too made a homemade journal."
Jim
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