It may sound overly geeky — the idea of using a tool like Evernote to help you with your prayer life.
But then, I’m a pretty big geek. In their marketing lingo, Evernote says of itself, “For everything you’ll do, Evernote is the workspace to get it done.” I spend a lot of time in that particular workspace and on my computer, so it sort of made sense back in August 2012 when I started incorporating Evernote into my daily prayer routine.
I won’t call prayer just another item on my “to do” list, but being organized about and committed to my spiritual life is one of my life’s greatest priorities.
As a blogger, I spend many of my days at the computer. My morning prayer time happens offline, but sitting at my desk most days on when I’m not traveling.
My morning prayer consists in part of time spent with the daily Mass readings, private journaling, contemplating the life of a saint, prayer for particular intentions and recitation of some formal prayers.
I decided to create a template in Evernote to help me guide this time and to keep myself accountable. Over time, my template has involved to include:
- Gospel for the day
- “Today in my life” intentions and prayer priorities
- Saint of the day
- A short, personal prayer that I write in my journal and copy into Evernote
- Formal prayers including the Morning Offering, the Allegiance Prayer, and other novenas and prayers
Do I do this routine every day?
Honestly, no. But I try to!
Keeping a prayer journal in Evernote has helped me pray through some “dry” periods and establish routines and priorities in my prayer life. It has helped me to keep better track of prayer intentions, thereby enabling me to follow up with loved ones who have asked for my prayers.
Quotes, scripture verses, the details of a saint’s life and other thoughts that have cropped up in my prayer time are now more accessible to me so that I can find them again in the future.
With the Evernote app, I can also tap into my prayer journal when I’m away from home and on the go.
Is an Evernote prayer journal for you? It’s easy to give it a try using the FREE version of Evernote.
A question for you: Do you incorporate a technology tool into your prayer life? Tell me about your favorite tool or application in the comments below.
Lisa Hendey is the founder and webmaster of CatholicMom.com and the author of The Grace of Yes, A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms and The Handbook for Catholic Moms. Lisa writes for several online and print publications, enjoys speaking around the country and is a frequent television and radio guest and host. Visit her at LisaHendey.com.
___________
This post is part of the 31 Days of Resources for Catholic Moms: tools to inspire and challenge you in your Catholic faith. .
This is great, I will try it. I receive a daily devotion through an app on my phone, but I haven’t found the right system for prayer (with technology. Mostly, I write on paper.) This looks promising, thanks!