God Is Like Bread - Doodle Devotionals
Week 1 in our newest series
We’re doodling this summer and I’m thrilled about it! If you just want to get to it, scroll on, the first is one here for you to check out.
Why Doodle Devotions?
Three big reasons:
My son Riley is an artist, able to draw most anything, though his preference is animation and characters. Every piece of paper that comes home from school has doodles on the margins, from history notes (where the content has become a comic) to math tests.
One time in an airport, he darted straight to the book tower to check out Drawing Near to God by Ben Patterson, only to be very sad to see words, not drawing tutorials, inside. He thought it would teach you to draw God. Ever since I’ve wondered what I could try that might feel like he expected.
For the past couple of years, I’ve sent out a weekly Bible story guide, but along the way I’ve wondered about the not-stories—teachings, or Psalms, or good verses that speak to who God is but aren’t part of a narrative.
My story guide format wasn’t a match for these, but Doodle Devotions are! (BTW, if you join for the summer you’ll get access all those story guides from the past).
I wondered if something short, simple, and not driven by reading or writing could really click for a group of kids who aren’t always down for those modes.
What you’ll get each week:
one image the Bible uses to describes God.
3 fun facts about that image—a way to get at some background for it.
a few questions to sort of ‘warm up’ a kid’s imagination
All all of those things are also recorded for kids who do better with audio.
then they’ll draw that image for God however they’d like, and we made some fun template pages for them to use.
I’ve got 12 images for us in all, and at the end of the summer I’ll have my graphic designer make it a whole PDF for you to keep.
How to join:
Doodle Devotions are for members of the Kids + Faith Community, where we talk faith formation, Bible stories, and theology in weekly emails, all with an eye for what’s good for kids. It’s $5/month or $30/year (the lowest Substack allows) for weekly emails, including first dibs on anything I make for kids and families, like this!
You can join for just the summer, and if you do, you’ll also have full access to the archive.
At the end, of course I hope you stay, but if it’s not for you, it’s very easy to cancel Substack anytime (and it prorates refunds if you do).
What if I want to use the devos with my church?
Love that! You’ll need to join the Church Use Membership in order to have permission to do that. That’s how I’ve opted to do my licensing for groups. This is honor system, but don’t be that guy.
Not sure? Have week 1 of the devotional for free to see if it’s a fit.
Audio version:
God is like bread
Find it in the Bible:
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” - John 6:35
3 Fun Facts about this Verse (and about bread!)
Bread shows up again and again in the Bible. God sends bread from heaven to the newly freed Hebrews in Exodus 16, Jesus makes a little bread become a ton of bread to feed a crowd of thousands in John 6–right before he says this line! The stories about bread in the Bible remind everyone who hears them that God takes care of us and gives us everything we need.
BONUS: Can you think of any other times where bread is in the Bible?
Bread was so important, sometimes instead of using the word “food” people would just say “bread”. It was the most important food for people in the Ancient world when the Bible was written. Sometimes bread is also called a “staff”, in the Bible, like the stick someone would use to walk long distances, because bread is what makes it possible to take a long journey. (You can find that in verses like Leviticus 26:26, Ezekiel 5:16 and Ezekiel 14:13, if you want.)
Bread was a reminder that God would care for us today, and it was also a promise that God would give us good things forever. When people imagined what it would be like when God made the whole world right at the end of time, sometimes they imagined a huge feast where God would lay out plenty of good things to eat, including bread.
Finish the sentences…
My favorite kind of bread is…
Based on what I know about bread, I wonder if Jesus said he’s bread because…
Time to doodle… bread.
It can be any type of bread, or a whole basket of different breads. Your bread can be on a surface like a board or table, or someone could be eating it…
Use your skill of imagination, remember Jesus says he’s bread, and draw whatever kind of bread you’d like. Scroll down to download a few of our fun doodle pages if you want to use those!
I love this, Meredith! What a fun series!!
My son also draws on the backs of all of his school papers! Looking forward to trying this out with him!