The other week in the wee hours of the morning, I stumbled upon a podcast/youtube interview with my favorite singer- Amy Grant. Sometimes I feel that I am quoting her a lot. I have always admired her and there is still a little of the younger me who wants to be like her. Well, when I was a kid ( I still have her original debut album- the one with the unpolished photo of her on the cover- wild curly hair and the facial “pudginess” of youth) I identified with her as everyone else who seemed cool had straight blond hair, blue eyes and rail thin faces.

As I have aged, I appreciate her wisdom and her use of her platform to humbly share about community and God’s love.

One of the nuggets that she shared on the interview was (for her) a game-changer journal that she received during Covid: 5 Minute Journal. It is a daily journal with questions for reflection: 3 questions in the morning and 2 in the evening. The same questions for each day, yet all designed to help one become be more intentional and mindful of one’s thoughts and actions throughout the day.

The morning questions:

1) I am grateful for…

2) What would make today great?

3) Daily affirmations. I am….

The evening questions:

4) What 3 amazing things happened today?

5) How could you have made today even better?

I like the evening questions the best. Writing about “amazing things” trains us to realize that amazing doesn’t have to be the awesome, super-duper events. Rather it is the small and ordinary that are truly the remarkable. For when you really think about it- very rarely do HUGE things happen to us on a daily, consistent basis. Sure, there are the births, the deaths, the marriages, the job hirings- the big events of life-but they do not occur every single day. When we realize that daily life is made up of small, seemingly insignificant events, we are more likely to notice them and to keep an eye out for them.

I also like the process of thinking about how the day could have been even better. It is another way of re-framing a reflective question so that we do not beat ourselves up over missed opportunities or conversations. For example, instead of kicking ourselves for not exercising that day, we can re-frame it by responding to the prompt of making the day better -“if I had gone to the gym in the morning”. Writing the plan/idea down, puts those thoughts into our heads so that next time, we will be more likely to complete the task or plan.

This idea of self-questions and reflections has me thinking about the questions and inquiries we ask of others. Perhaps we also need to change our thinking of how we question and interact with one another. I have read and heard from different social media people, news reports and various book authors that we need to ask better questions of one another if we are to begin to understand one another.

I think better questions begin with humility: taking the posture of “what do I need to learn from this person” rather than “what can I do to either impress them with my knowledge or dominate them (which in turn will have then become defensive) through my inquisition”. Then to ask, in some form or other, “what does this (whatever this may be) look like from your vantage point?”

There is also the thought that asking from a different posture can give us a better answer. Think about the questions that children ask: many times the questions appear obvious, but they get to the heart of the matter. They, due to their very nature of being young and inexperienced, ask questions with a natural humility.

The story goes that Edwin Land (founder of Polaroid) was asked by his three-year-old daughter why she couldn’t see the picture he had just taken of her. Why indeed? Her question makes sense in the present world of children because, at that time, waiting for a photo to be developed would be quite a long time. His daughter asked the obvious but simple question and thus the idea of instant photos was born.

What about you? Do you ever ask yourself questions or reflect on your past? What are those questions? Do you journal? What does that look like? Do you always ask the same things of yourself, your family, your acquaintances? Do you get frustrated with the same answers? What questions might you ask to change things up?

I know that I am looking for different questions. I am daily trying to find ways to dwell on truth, goodness, beauty, and things that are lovely, honorable, just and pure (Philippians 4: 8). I think that if we humbly go about our days, asking others and ourselves questions that expand our understanding of one another, we will be able to make tomorrow even better than today.