More Scripture Journaling

I seldom read a book without a pen in hand.  Most of the books I read include ideas and quotations that I don't want to forget once I've reached the final page.  I have always been a note-taker, and I find that writing things down helps lodge information in my brain, in addition to providing a written record I can consult later.

Because the Bible is such an important text to me, you can be sure that I have logged many, many pages of notes and verses and reflections and lessons as I've worked through its books.

Recently, as I shared about a week ago, I have added a visual element to my note-taking.  I have been doing a new form of scripture journaling that challenges me to collect and organize information and ideas, and to represent them visually by how I arrange them on the page, or the sketches and doodles I use to express them.

I work very diligently to make sure that each part of the chapter is represented, and if I can't think of a way to express it visually, then I write the verse down as a quotation.

After completing a page for 2 Corinthians chapter 4, I worked backwards and completed pages for chapters 3 and 2.  My goal is to complete a page for each of the book's thirteen chapters, but I will give myself permission to start working on whatever we are covering in my Bible study by the time I get there so that it remains a help to me rather than a burden.

I even threw in a little decorative tape for my notes on chapter 3; I'll have to explore a little more of that to dress things up a bit!  (Everything's better with decorative tape, don't you think?)

I've only completed three note-taking pages so far, but have found it to be a very effective approach to studying the Bible.  It has helped me to complete my pages after having a conversation with my Bible study group.  That way, I can use my own reading, a reading of a written commentary, and a Bible study discussion to inform my decisions about how to represent the ideas.  I also continue to collect ideas and examples for my Pinterest board called "Scripture Journaling" to help me with future pages.


I would love to hear from you about how you have used your creativity or artistic expression to complement your religious or spiritual life.  They are such obvious companions, it makes sense to bring them together for a fuller expression of each.

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Come back by soon, because I am heading to the Allentown Paper Show again tomorrow, and will be sure to return with lots of amazing paper loot to share with you in a future post!  My husband suggested that I look at all the postcards, postage stamps, books, and documents that I already have in order to figure out what I really need.  Once my laughter died down, I asked how much money I can withdraw from the ATM on a single day.....