Two years ago, I decided to challenge myself to spend more time with the Sunday Mass readings, praying and reflecting over God's Word. Back at the beginning, I wrote: "Scripture doodling. That's what I'm calling it anyways. It helps me focus, helps me memorize, and helps me treasure God's Word. I often spend time doodling on Sundays using the Sunday Readings from Mass. Today, as I sat down to pray, I realized that the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of a new Liturgical Year, is a great time for, well, a new year's resolution. So I've decided to be a little more intentional about this idea. I broke out an unused journal, labeled the top of each page with all the coming Sundays this year, and started today. My goal is to spend time meditating on the Readings for each Sunday for the rest of the year and doodle a selected verse every week. I'll be documenting the journey each Sunday on Instagram using the hashtag #SundayReadingsScriptureDoodle. Come follow along, and jump in if you like!"
You can see the wrap up post from this time last year with some of my favorite Scripture Doodles from 2015-2016 here. I have kept up with my "Liturgical New Year Resolution" by posting them on Instagram each week, which gives me both accountability and community.
I have found that after over a hundred Sundays, this practice has become part of my routine- which is exactly what I was hoping. I am more likely to read the Readings ahead of Mass, always read them again after, and I am looking and listening for key ideas, verses, and words that stand out to me.
I am internalizing and memorizing more Scripture, and also challenging my art/creativity to letter the verse a little differently each week. Probably most importantly, this resolution forces me to use part of my Sunday in quiet and prayer and rest, which is easy for me to push aside on one of my busiest days of the week.
I thought I'd share a some of my favorite doodles from this past year with you. You can see the whole collection (and some guests, too!) using the Instagram hashtag here.
I'd love to have you join my on this endeavor to draw nearer to God through Scripture. Feel free to chose your own verse each week, write it down, letter and decorate it, type it, whatever works for you. If you want to share it on social media, use #SundayReadingsScriptureDoodle so we can all be praying together.
I'm often asked about my favorite supplies, so here are a few recommendations: (Amazon Affiliate links- That means that if you click through and purchase something, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you.)
-These notebooks
-These pens
-This pen
-These pens for color
-These pencils
-This eraser
Click here to read last year's post:
Wow, what a beautiful and inspiring idea!
ReplyDeleteThanks! It's been a great addition to my prayer life!
DeleteIs all your lettering completely free-hand, or do you use an electronic font that you print and trace? Your work is beautiful, and I love the idea of this habit, but I definitely do not have the skill or ability to create something so gorgeous on my own. (I despise my perfectionism for even asking this question!) UGH!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Diana!
DeleteFirst, all handwriting is important, because it is a little piece of you! That meaning matters. But I totally understand your sentiment about beautiful lettering. :) I've been doodling for years and years and have been spending quite a bit of time lettering recently, so I've gotten better. I do create these freehand, but two things that you should know are that I always start with a very rough version often on graph paper that I then transfer to this notebook, and I also often have imperfections or things that I don't like about how they turn out. We each see the worst in our own work. With that being said, the idea is to reflect on and have Scripture present in our days, so how you do that isn't important. You can totally create a template using favorite fonts and then either color and decorate that or even trace it into a notebook.
I mention using computer fonts in this post:
Adding Art in a Non Journaling Bible
And tracing and transfer techniques in this post:
Transfer and Tracing Techniques
I also have templates and stickers in my Etsy shop!
Hope that helps! Use whatever tools you need to make it work for you. ;)
These are super nice! So you took one line from the Sunday reading that stood out to you and embellished it artistically for a whole two years? I admire your steaddiness of hand and habit!
ReplyDelete