Praying in Color - Book Review

Sybil MacBeth's Praying in Color: Drawing a New Path to God has been on my to-read list for a long time. YEARS. But it wasn't a book that was available through my local library. So two years ago, my brother-in-law bought the book for me for Christmas.

And I haven't read it until now.

The whole idea of this book is that instead of sitting quietly and trying to turn down all the thoughts churning in our heads, trying hard to remember what and who we should we be praying for, and trying hard to figure out just how to speak to God, we should doodle. Grab some blank pieces of paper, some pens and markers, and start drawing shapes and creating one shape for each person or thing that you want to be praying for. Decorate those shapes. Color them in. Create a piece of art that you can look back at through the day, the week, or the month and easily remember what's on your prayer list.

I love this idea (and all the ways you can apply it to prayer and thought, as laid out in the book) because I often struggle with prayer. When I do remember that "Oh, I need to pray", my mind begins to wander and I find myself thinking about the grocery list or replaying a conversation with someone that happened that day. Focus without a visual is not my strong point. (This is why I can't listen to audiobooks.)

But drawing something - yes! That gives me a visual and it gives my hands something to do. Kind of like how a fidget spinner or fidget cube can help with focus and concentration? I feel like drawing out prayers is the same type of thing.

I haven't put this into practice yet, but I'm eager to break out my pens and markers and fill a whole blank journal with prayer.