“Prepare for God’s arrival! Make the road straight and smooth, a highway fit for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3 The Message)

Advent starts next Sunday, December 2. I love to mark the day-by-day journey to Christmas by using an Advent calendar. Instead of opening daily doors like on many commercial calendars, I draw and pray on a calendar template. In the past I have prayed for people, pondered words appropriate to the season or just decorated the space in quiet. You can do any of those activities or choose your own.

Here are some possible templates. The candle calendar is what I’m using this year. The tree template is from last year. My friend Cindy O. created the traditional box calendar template. Click on the individual drawings to download the templates. I often enlarge the template to an 11″ x 17″ piece of card stock.

Here are some examples of finished calendars from previous years. The far left is my 2010 calendar. The middle one is my friend Cindy O.’s (Mostly Markers blog) from 2011. The tree is my 2011 calendar.

Don’t worry about whether your doodles or drawings are great art. Think of each stroke of your pen and each mark of color as a wordless prayer. You are spending time with God, giving your hands and eyes something to do while you wait for words, listen for God’s voice or rest in God’s stillness.

P.S. If you have trouble downloading the templates, let me know through the email link on the Contact page of this site.