I had to re-read the title a second time. It said, “Hearing the Spirit through Creative Journaling & Doodling”.

Doodling? As a spiritual discipline? I was hooked. I had to go.

Last weekend, I directed a Christian conference for Graduate students in New York City and in New Jersey. These students ranged all across the board in field of study, but they all had two things in common – they were all believers, and they were all in pursuit of a higher degree. This meant a strong pull to do more, to learn more, to research more, to get more done – which makes it hard to continue to prioritize God. Often, their fields and their Universities were highly competitive, top research institutions. These students’ minds were inundated with mentally challenging tasks all day long. How do you make space to also be with God when your mind is so tired all the time?

You may not be an academic, but perhaps you can relate.

When I contacted our speakers for the conference and invited them to offer workshops during our Saturday afternoon free time on anything they were passionate about, I was intrigued by what our panelist, Christen Smith, suggested: creative journaling and doodling. I thought, “why not?”

Christen Smith is a filmmaker, creative director and consultant who teaches animation at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Kanbar Institute of Film & Television. She is also the founder and director of Trellis Creative Strategies, a consultancy advising best practices for ethics-based media production. Over her career, Christen has developed leadership and media curricula for a wide range of contexts: from undergraduates to young adults incarcerated on Rikers Island; from freelance animators working on a show for Cartoon Network, to employees at a digital publishing startup, to volunteers and staff serving in a megachurch. She is based in New York City.

As Christen shared with us, I was amazed by the beautiful simplicity of the practice of doodling with the Holy Spirit. Rejecting perfectionism and instead encouraging a prayerful doodling process that brings each penstroke to the Lord, the freedom to bask in the Lord’s presence was palpable in the room.

As she had us practice doodling with the Lord for ourselves, I wasn’t 5 minutes into the time when I realized how engaging my creative-brain (right-brain) really did feel different than when I engaged my logic-brain (left-brain). As the director of the conference where this workshop was hosted, my left-brain was past capacity – but when I doodled, it all fell away and I felt free to simply let my pen wander on the page. The pressure in my head subsided. The weight on my shoulders lifted. The Lord met me as I found myself drawn to the edges of the paper; He reminded me of how He has called me to reach to the corners, the unreached, the places where the Church is “not yet”, and I sat in that reality with the Lord for a while. I ended up drawing a lot of squiggles (see photo below), as one long drawn-out line throughout the whole paper. The Lord spoke to me about how my life involved moving all over the place and that, though sometimes it feels like I’m doubling back over myself or re-learning the same things, it’s still all beautiful and worth it.

There was nothing profound that He taught me, nothing new, but it was a peaceful, beautiful way to dwell with the Lord and be reminded of His promises to me and His calling on my life. It was simple and gentle, and a great break from a very busy day with a lot of responsibilities on my shoulders.

I recommend that you try it – especially if your left-brain is tired, since this engages a different part of the brain!

How can I Doodle with the Spirit?

Here’s what Christen Smith recommends:

Guidelines for Creative Doodling

● Pray: “Come, Holy Spirit. Meet me here.”

● Begin by drawing a line. Repeat the line.

● Don’t erase or “undo”.

● Don’t start over, keep going.

● Fill up the whole paper.

● Ask the Spirit what you are drawing.

● If you receive a word, look up the word in the Bible.

● Read through the verses in the search result.

● If there is a verse or passage that resonates with you, stay there and let it sink in.

● Return to your drawing and finish it.

● Give a title to your prayer drawing.

One of the other things that I love about this practice is how scalable it is. You don’t need any fancy art materials – whatever you have near you is good enough. You can spend a few minutes on it, or an hour on it. If you’re unsure, I recommend setting a timer for 10 minutes and start there; you’ll be surprised how quickly the time goes by!

Interested in learning from Christen Smith or inviting her to share more with you? Contact us!