The weekly review: considering your ways to start afresh
A week goes by quickly: you move from task to task without taking the time to look back. The result: you repeat the same mistakes and forget what was good. This quest invites you to a weekly appointment with yourself, before God: the weekly review.
What it looks like in your day
Choose a fixed time, ten to fifteen minutes, for example Sunday evening or Saturday morning. Take a notebook. Then answer four groups of questions:
1. What was good. Which moments did me good? What successes, what encounters, what signs from God? Write down three. Give thanks.
2. What went off track. Where did I lack patience, truthfulness, courage? What opportunities did I miss? Write it down without defending yourself. Ask forgiveness.
3. What I learned. What did this week show me about myself, about others, about God?
4. What I entrust for the days ahead. What is waiting for me next week? What decisions, what people, what worries? Hand them over to God, and choose one priority.
Finish with a short prayer, then close the notebook. Don't try to solve everything: the goal is to see clearly and move on lighter.
One tip: keep your reviews. After a few weeks, when you reread them, you will see patterns: the same temptations, the same blessings. It helps you discern where God is at work.
If you are in a hurry, cut it down to three lines: one thank-you, one sorry, one act of trust. If you are shy, you are alone with your notebook. If you already do an evening examination, this review is its weekly version.
What the Bible says
The prophet Haggai passes on God's call to a people who are busy but getting nowhere:
“Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.”
"Consider your ways": stop, look at where you are going. That is exactly the point of the review. The book of Lamentations, in a context of national mourning, voices a similar invitation:
“Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.”
To search and try your ways, then turn again to the Lord: the review is not self-inspection for its own sake, but a return. The same book reminds us a little further on that God's mercies "are new every morning" (Lamentations 3:22-23): every week can begin afresh.
The psalmist asks God to teach him "to number our days" (Psalms 90:12): a regular review is a way of not letting the weeks slip by.
Pitfalls to avoid
Turning into a judge. A review is not a trial. If it leaves you heavier, change the method: begin with gratitude, end with grace.
Seeing only the negative. Our memory holds on to what went wrong more easily. Take the time to note what was good.
Making unrealistic resolutions. "Next week, I'll pray an hour a day." Choose a single priority, simple and realistic.
Comparing yourself. The review is done in relation to yourself and God, not in relation to others.
Rushing it. A few minutes of calm are worth more than a review dispatched between two tasks.
This week, set aside a time. Answer the four groups of questions and finish with a prayer.