I don’t really think of myself as an artist.

The thing that I call “verse art” started in the family of ideas from a book called Praying in Color (which is really cool, you should check it out). What I love most about Praying in Color is that it breaks open the idea of prayer as formal, written, or “just right.” Drawing, doodling, and coloring aren’t prayer because you add words, they are prayer all by themselves. I love words. I never (previously) knew I needed to be free of them to pray.

The second thing I love about Praying in Color is that I finally have permission to doodle, sketch, and/or just draw random curvy lines all I want. It’s praying! It’s allowed, and on task practically all the time! I don’t even have to be any good at it! Wow!

(The third thing I love is that it’s truly a cross-generational practice: everyone — all ages, all interests, whatever — can do it, each of us in our own way.)

part of a colorful illustration, with purple and blue boxes and circles around the words "Do not" and "about" — A glimpse of the first ever “verse art”, with extra scribbles because that’s what happens when I leave things laying around.

Since I liked the basic practice so much, I tried using those concepts and ideas around Bible verses, and found something else amazing: a source of words (I do still like words) and themes, and ideas I didn’t have to think of myself. Scripture is — among all the other things it is — a practically endless collection of words, small and great, simple and complicated, passed down through the ages and translated again and again with care (and grace, and love, and occasionally ulterior motives) and they are right there. So handy!

In the beginning, I used this idea to memorize Bible verses (or at least pretend that’s what I was doing), to make coloring pages, and occasionally as sermon prep. Then I started doing it every week.

My rules¹ are:

I try to do it every week, usually from something in the Revised Common Lectionary. (This is handy for finding those words without having to search, and it keeps me in community with my friends and colleagues and siblings all over the church.)
I do it in ink, no complete do-overs or major edits. (Otherwise I’ll never, ever finish.)
I have to share it, whether I like it or not. This is for accountability, but it’s also a discipline on its own, because I do not like sharing stuff I don’t like. I am learning to do it anyway.

Sometimes the result is a devotional practice. Sometimes it’s an art practice. Sometimes it’s just a thing I do to reduce screen time³, or keep my hands busy waiting for school pickup, or while listening to a sermon³. Whatever it is this week, I do it. And I share it. And now that I’m in my third year (which means I’ve done two complete lectionary cycles and am working on the third), I have some thoughts. I haven’t always learned what I thought I would.

God’s Word is like that. It’s alive! You never know what might happen when you spend time with it.

Even if you’re not an artist.

¹They’re not really rules. It’s more like guidelines. I’m not imposing a new “thou shalt do it only this way” on myself, I’m hanging out with the words of scripture, and maybe, just maybe, finding a bit of Christian rhythm in my life.

²Sometimes it’s a thing I do during screen time.

³Yes, I totally do verse art while my husband preaches, or my sister preaches, or anyone else preaches. I feel no guilt.