Marking suggestions
After you’ve bought your pencils and markers, after you’ve pulled sheets and are ready to go, sometimes you may get stalled by wondering what symbol to use for a word.
There’s no right or wrong way to mark a word. However, your marks should mean something to you. I use purple for the Trinity because it reminds me of royalty. I use a triangle (and its variations) to remind me of the triune nature of God.
Prayer carries requests from me to God, and carries the answer from Him to me – so I use a simple bucket shape to mark “prayer.” “Rigthteousness” is a big deal, so it’s a great big blue “R.”
Remember that each character gets a color. Scribble Paul with his Paul color, then while that color is in your hand, put a box around his verb. Verbs are so great to mark – they tell you what the character did! God verbs are extremely important, and are easy to mark while you’ve got the purple in your hand.
As you begin, use my suggested marks, then let your imagination run wild and come up with your own. You have 12 colored pencils and any number of shapes that you can use, so your choices are limitless! There’s no way you can do this wrong, so don’t be afraid. You can do it!
Janine Bear is a wife, a mom of four teenagers, and a Pastor in Elk River, MN. Her passion is teaching people to study the word, and does that whenever she gets a chance. She’s available for conferences, retreats, seminars, and Bible studies.
