Introducing: ‘The Daily Inspirational Journal, Volume One.‘
‘The words of the writer act as a catalyst in the mind of the reader, inspiring new insights, associations, and perceptions, sometimes even epiphanies.’
Nicholas Carr
My Reading Life has expanded since my retirement in 2017. It is defined by two main sources.
Firstly, I read several passages from the Bible every day. I do this while I am eating my breakfast. I use a daily reading plan produced by The Navigators called The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan (click to download). It takes me through the whole Bible in a year. Each year I endeavour to use a different translation of the Bible.
2020 New International Version (NIV) Men’s Devotional 1993 Zondervan Publishing House
2021 Orthodox Study Bible
Old Testament Text: St. Athanasius Academy Septuagint 2008 St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology
New Testament Text: New King James Version (NKJV) 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc.
2022 New Living Translation (NLT) Special Edition 1996 Tyndale House Foundation
2023 The Evidence Bible King James Version (KJV) Sensitively Revised “Comfort-able KJV” 2003 Bridge-Logos Publishers
Secondly, I try to read a fiction or non-fiction book a week. Most years I better this target. I prefer to choose the books I read. On the library website, I can reserve titles not yet available. I often browse the New Releases section to see what is currently attracting attention.
At the start of each year, I publish a Blog Post that highlights the best of my reading.
2020 To Learn To Read Is To Light A Fire
2021 2020 Reading Challenge
2022 15 Books That Informed My Thinking in 2021
2023 My Favourite Books of 2022
The Daily Inspirational Journal, Volume One, is based on my reading in 2022. Its purpose is defined in the Introduction.
Introduction:
Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of the most influential writers and thinkers of the 19th century in the United States. He wrote in his Journals in 1836,
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
Emerson was not suggesting that you make up your own religion. He meant to encourage the readers to follow the Renaissance practice of compiling favourite quotes, poems, letters, and passages into a simple book to be used for reflection and inspiration.
The Daily Inspirational Journal is a compilation of quotes from the New Living Translation of the Bible and books I have been reading.
The word inspiration, which comes from the Latin inspiratio, means ‘breath of God’ or ‘divine guidance.’
An inspired life is a God breathed life, resounding with meaning and purpose.
Without inspiration life becomes dreary and predictable. Everything we tackle drains us, leaving us physically spent and emotionally exhausted.
Reading is transformative. When we read, we open ourselves to thoughts and ideas that are invested with meaning, that have the power to alter the way we think and shape the way we live.
Words are inspirational:
- The words we read bring recognition, making us glow on the inside.
- The words we read bring enlightenment, opening our eyes to new possibilities.
- The words we read reveal new horizons, allowing us to touch the stars.
- The words we read bring hope, calming the restless spirit and creating a way forward.
Kevin Kaiser believes all inspiration originates beyond the mind. He says,
‘You can’t think your way to inspiration any more than a sail can make the wind blow. The mind can’t understand inspiration in the same way a sail can’t understand the wind. Despite this, the sail can still be used to gather and to harness it.’
It is my hope the Daily Inspirational Journal will nurture and nourish, galvanising your mind, stimulating your emotions, and firing your imagination.
Here are four examples from the Daily Inspirational Journal.
March 14 ‘Listen to his voice’ (Deuteronomy 13:4)
‘God chooses according to his own plan.’ Romans 9:11 (NLT)
‘Those who remain will be like splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides.’ Numbers 33:55 (NLT)
‘Rather than the walk being a time to get our thoughts straight and make a plan, it had become a meditation, a mental void filled only with salt wind, dust and light. Each step had its own resonance, its moment of power or failure.’ The Salt Path – Raynor Winn
‘Each day survived a reason to live through the next.’ Raynor Winn
‘Each lungful of salt scouring our memories, smoothing their edges, wearing them down.’ Raynor Winn
April 5 STRONG DELIVERER
‘The man jumped up, took the mat, and pushed his way through the stunned onlookers.’ Mark 2:12 (NLT)
‘I don’t know why they call it a newspaper. I don’t call that stuff news.’
‘No.’
‘When was the last time you read something about Jesus Christ in the newspaper?’
Bell shook his head. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I’d have to say it would be a while.’ No Country for Old Men – Cormac McCarthy
‘It’s easy to fool yourself. Tell yourself what you want to hear.’ Cormac McCarthy
‘You can’t go to war like that. You can’t go to war without God.’ Cormac McCarthy
May 20 Challenge – What is in front of you.
‘There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. For you are all Christians – you are one in Christ.’ Galatians 3:28 (NLT)
‘People need people, more than any other being needs any other being, and Jack thought as he sifted the remnants of the nightmare that the need makes us particularly vulnerable.’ The Guide – Peter Heller
‘We are entrusted with certain souls, and we are beholden in a broader sense, as people, to take care of others.’ Peter Heller
‘He had learned that fishing was much less a distraction than a form of connection: of connecting to the best part of himself, and to a discipline that demanded that he stay open to every sense, to the nuances of the season and to the instrument of his own body, his own agility or fatigue.’ Peter Heller
July 25 ‘My frailty is my strength.’ (Indira Naidoo)
‘Be dressed for service.’ Luke 12:35 (NLT)
‘Never get tired of doing good.’ 2 Thessalonians 3:13 (NLT)
‘The chinks in my breastplate are just the scars of battle.’ The Space Between the Stars – Indira Naidoo
The she-oaks and the eucalypts lean in closer still. My skin tingles from an unseen embrace. With no words passing between us, these trees seem to intuitively know what I need: openness and enclosure.’ Indira Naidoo
‘Being present, the greatest comfort anyone can offer.’ Indira Naidoo
‘Eventually everything must return to the earth… Death doesn’t have to be a rip in the universe.’ Indira Naidoo
Download your copy of the Daily Inspirational Journal
Daily Inspirational Journal – Volume One (Compiled by Bruce Rickard)
If you want to understand the background or context of the biblical reference, I recommend BibleGateway.
Hope For Tomorrow 