Colouring Prayer

Recently I have come across another great way to pray that might be useful to you. I learned about the method from a book called, Praying in Color, Drawing a New Path to God, by Sybil Macbeth, 2008, that my spiritual director had loaned to me. She was trying to help me to use another side of my brain that I am less in touch with.

You do not have to be a great artist (I am not). It is more like doodling shapes, colouring and connecting them. You need some art quality felt pens and an art quality paper book to draw and keep your prayers within.

This may or may not be your experience but the process immediately draws me into a contemplative state. I begin by inviting God into the process of my concerns and then I start to doodle shapes using a fine black marker (you could also use a pencil and then go over it in the black marker). I add a word to the centre of the shape that expresses the concern. I add colour to those shapes and continue adding to them until the concerns seem to be expressed. I am quite focused. I will sometimes write some words around them or perhaps will add those at another time. I don’t necessarily complete the ‘drawing’ at one time but will add other colours and words at another time. I will then lay my hands over the drawings without words and when I am done, I will say Amen. I am at peace.

There are a myriad of wonderful suggestions in this book, including calendars, praying the names of God and many more. She even steps into the realm of computers and shows those who may be attracted to this method, how to use praying in color with computers. This may be a prayer that works for you.