I love this word! It is so…so…God. I was reminded of it when I opened a brand new journal, a gift from my daughter, in early June. The cover artwork of (mainly) fungi reminded me of a teaching by Robin Wall Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass. She writes that the Anishinaabe ethnobotanist Keewaydinoquay translates “puhpowee!” as “the force which causes mushrooms to spring up from the earth overnight” and then Ms. Kimmerer adds, “The makers of this word understood a world of being, full of unseen energies that animate everything.” (p 49)
And isn’t God exactly that — the I AM animating everything seen and unseen, causing revelations and new understandings to spring up, seemingly out of nowhere, into our lives and souls? Amazingly, the Holy Mystery is always reaching out to us. Frustratingly, I merrily trudge right by what is beneath my feet, my eyes set on the next bend of the trail. This is where a journal comes in.
A journal helps me to catch the “puhpowee” moments sent my way. Most mornings find me in a familiar forest of praise, the Word, thanksgiving, and petitions for both strangers and loved ones. It is most often when I stop to rest that, puhpowee! gifts from the Divine pops up — an image, a new insight into scripture, the inkling of a small task to be done, a scent, a memory, a feeling…These gifts are usually silent (like mushrooms), and before I trudge any further, and because my mind is like a sieve, I find it helpful to capture them on paper.
A journal is also good for remembering the path recently travelled. Once a month, sometimes once a week, I re-read my “field notes” and “puhpowee!” I suddenly discover a theme sprouting from the crumbly compost of my soul notes.
There is no right way to keep a journal. For a period of time, I practiced Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages ritual found in The Artist’s Way/A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity: Fill three pages with whatever comes to mind. This taught me a couple of things: First, don’t get caught up in not being able to find the perfect word or phrase and second, it is indeed good to slow down.
Another approach is to journal on a theme. One summer, largely spent sailing and camping, I journeyed through Water, Wind, Earth & Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements (Christine Valters Paintner). One Lent I foraged online for God through The Stations of the Cross (as presented by Karen Brodie Archibald).
Still another useful framework can be the “Gospel-based Discipleship” questions. After reading through a Scripture passage (or a chapter of a book, perhaps), I answer: What word(s), idea(s), or phrase(s) stand out for me? Then I read the passage again: What is Jesus (the Gospel) saying to me? And after a third reading: What is Jesus (the Gospel) calling me to do?
Puhpowee! There on my journal pages is a holy gift I didn’t even know I was looking for. Thank you, God.
