Praying in Color
It's a book; it's a prayer practice; it's a workshop!

The Prayer Practice
When multiple friends and family members received ugly and scary diagnoses, Sybil MacBeth found herself exhausted by the words of her prayers and stymied by a lack of focus. One summer day, she retreated to her back porch for a session of mindless doodling with a basket of her favorite colored markers. She drew a shape, put the name of a friend inside, and added lines and color. She drew another shape with another name and added detail and color. When the page was covered with designs and names, Sybil realized she had prayed. The action of drawing was a wordless offering of friends and family into the care of God. The page of drawings became a visual reminder to pray.

I like to think of "praying in color" as my II Corinthians 12 prayer form: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." This prayer practice came to me through my weaknesses: I can't draw; I fumble for words; my mind wanders; I can't sit still. When I "pray in color" I turn my faltering words and my worry over to God. The simple action of moving the pen and coloring on the page keeps my restless body happy and allows me to focus on my prayer. Distractions don't disappear completely, but they're less powerful. Since the only drawing I do is shapes, lines, dots, and doodles, no artistic skill is necessary. I am grateful for the awesome generosity of a God who takes my flaws and shortcomings, scrambles them in a cosmic centrifuge, and returns them as a gift of prayer.

If you are word-weary, stillness-challenged, easily distracted, or just in need of a new way to pray, give "praying in color" a try. Men do it, women do it; teenagers do it; and children do it. All you need: paper, a black pen, colored markers or colored pencils, and Praying in Color: Drawing a New Path to God.

1. Draw a shape.
2. Put the name of a person for whom you are praying inside the shape.
3. Add lines, squiggles, and dots.
4. Add color.
5. Think of each stroke of the pen and each daub of color as a moment of prayer.
No words are necessary; no artistic skill is necessary-only a desire and a longing for the presence of God.

Reviews
"I created my prayer drawing before bed and woke up several times in the course of the night with the images still in my mind. The images reminded me to pray immediately."
-Kathy C

"My spiritual director is big into contemplative prayer and wants to spend our time in silence. I tell him I live alone and am in contemplative mode most of the time. He will be pleased that I have a focus that will make sense to him. I have a large newsprint tablet with crayons on my dining room table where a very large prayer is in process. I find myself giving up such inviting times as a nap to go tend it."
-Betsy W.

"I tried praying in color on my own. And here's what I discovered: Normally I hate drawing. I got self-conscious about my lack of talent somewhere in fourth grade and just shut down. Even my doodles are limited to letters and circles and lines. But even I was able to pray in color because I didn't think of it as drawing . . . just as letting my heart move across the page in a squiggly way. My heart kept beating and my hand kept moving and I felt confirmed and released. I found praying in color to be child-like, not childish, and it felt good. I got over myself and for the first time was able even to feel negative emotions in prayer . . . like anger . . . another aspect of self I started repressing in about fourth grade."
-Ellen K

"I am a botanical artist and Jewish, so I am coming from another point of view. Being Jewish, I found praying in color an insightful process. It kept me focused and connected, both to my thoughts and my intentions."
-Sally M

"I used to do something like this on notebooks and papers during my high school and college days. I think maybe I was praying then too, but just didn't know it."
-Jeff M