Planning Through Memorial Season: How I Use My Planner as a JW Educator

There is a season each year when my planner becomes something more than a task manager. The weeks leading up to the Memorial, the annual commemoration of Jesus’ death, shift the texture of my days in a way that is both quiet and intentional. My schedule does not stop, and my work continues, but how I move through the week changes.

My planner is part of how I honor that shift.

What Memorial Season Looks Like in a Full Life

Teaching a full course load, working part-time in pharmacy, and building PlanRx Insights does not pause for Memorial season. What changes is the intentionality behind how I use the time that is mine to shape.

In the weeks leading to Memorial, I use my planner to protect specific time blocks for spiritual preparation, including Memorial Bible reading, personal Bible journaling, preparing for meetings, and making time for invitations and conversations in the ministry. I also make sure the evening of the Memorial itself is clear, with margin on either side.

That kind of protection does not happen by accident. It happens because I wrote it down.

Bible Journaling as a Planning Practice

My Bible journaling is not elaborate or designed to be a craft project. It is a quiet practice of writing down what each daily text means to me personally, what I want to remember, and any study notes that stood out.

During Memorial season, that practice intensifies. There are scriptures I return to every year—accounts surrounding Jesus’ final days, his death, and the meaning behind it.

I move through them more slowly and with intention, taking time to meditate on the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice rather than treating the reading as something to check off.

My Wonderland222 All-in-One holds both. The planning sections keep me on schedule, and the journal pages hold the reflection. In the same book, I can look at what I need to do and then turn the page and write about what I am thinking and feeling. During Memorial season, that combination matters more than usual.

How I Set Up My Planner for Memorial Week

If you are anything like me, the week can get away from you fast. Here are a few things I do in my Wonderland222 to make sure Memorial week feels intentional from start to finish:

• I schedule the special morning worship on JW.org first thing on the day of the Memorial. That goes on the page before anything else, because if I do not protect it, something will fill that space.
• The evening of the Memorial gets blocked as a standing appointment — nothing casual gets scheduled around it, and I leave margin on both sides so I am not rushing in or rushing out.
• I write the suggested memorial bible reading scriptures directly into my daily pages for that week. That way they show up in my morning routine instead of being something I have to remember to go find.
• I lighten my task load in the two or three days before the Memorial. I want to arrive refreshed, not depleted.
• If we are going to a different congregation for the Memorial, I use my weekly spread to map out the logistics early so that is not something I am figuring out last minute.
• I keep a running list of those I want to invite or follow up with. Memorial season is such a good time for those conversations, and I do not want to lose track of who is on my heart during a busy week.
• I leave space in my notes section to capture whatever surfaces during that week — things I want to think on more, impressions from the scriptures, things I want to bring into my journaling.

Planning With Purpose Is Still Planning

I know some sisters might wonder whether bringing a planner into something as sacred as Memorial season takes away from the experience. I used to think about that too. But what I have found is the opposite.

Writing it down is how I tell myself it matters. When I block that evening, when I put those scriptures on the page, when I write the names of people I want to invite, I am not being efficient. I am being intentional. There is a difference.

The Wonderland222 does not make Memorial week meaningful. Jehovah does that. But my planner helps me show up for it the way I actually want to — prepared, unhurried, and with space to be present for what the evening is really about.

If you have never thought about setting up your planner for Memorial season, I hope this gives you a starting point. Even one or two of these habits can change how the week feels.

With purpose, a planner, and a pencil behind my ear. — Mardesia