Praying in Color

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Praying in Color Interview

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About three weeks ago I was interviewed by Vanessa Lowry who hosts a weekly internet radio program called Arts As Worship on Empower Radio. The interview will broadcast live at 9AM Eastern time on Halloween, Wednesday, October 31. It lasts a half-hour and will be available for download after the live airing. There is a Listen Live link on the Arts as Worship page. Here’s the link to the post she wrote.

I really enjoyed talking with Vanessa. She made me feel at ease and asked interesting questions. She really “gets” praying in color and is a woman of many talents who doodles and improvises. Vanessa has interviewed all kinds of artists as part of her series. Check out the wide variety of artists she has interviewed.

More Artist Trading Card Prayers

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My friend Connie uses Artist Trading Cards for many of her prayers. She keeps them in loose-leaf binders in plastic pages designed for holding trading cards. The pages are a clever way to keep track of prayer concerns. They are an ongoing diary. Here are some examples of Connie’s prayers. She uses the front and back of the cards.

I’ve started to carry a package of the cards with me whenever I travel. The cards take up very little space; I always have a pen or pencil nearby.

Adequate

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Blog writing has slipped through the cracks for me in the past three weeks. My husband’s post-surgery weeks have been a hazy time.

One of the things I’ve noticed in these recent weeks is my response to the frequent question, “How are you doing?”  My consistent answer has been: “Adequate.” (Years ago an outlandish friend named Ashley introduced me to that word.) What has surprised me is people’s response to that answer: “Oh, I’m sorry. I hope it gets better soon.” I do not use the word adequate to register my unhappiness or to elicit any kind of sympathy for a less than acceptable condition. Adequate means enough, sufficient. I like the thought of having enough and being enough. I don’t always have to go for the superlatives of “Great, Terrific” or conversely “Lousy, Awful.” In any moment I don’t have to be better than adequate to be greatly content or terrifically grateful. Or at least I’m working on this kind of contentment and gratitude–not needing to be wonderful, the best, perfect, ecstatic, terrific…all of the time.

About two weeks ago I went to Alabama for a three-hour Praying in Color workshop at an enthusiastic, hospitable Episcopal church. This past weekend I traveled to Jerome, Idaho (new turf for me) to lead a weekend retreat for thirty people in the Episcopal Diocese of Idaho. The stark, scrubby beauty of the region was a shock to my east-of-the-Mississippi eyes. Browns, golds, and rusts blanketed the high desert ground, hills, and gorges.

My time in Alabama and Idaho reminds me how much I love being with a group of people in a corporate prayer experience and giving them permission to try a new way to pray. I feel honored to be invited into the role of retreat leader. Yesterday I read this quote In the Message Bible–(1Timothy 1:12) “I’m so grateful to Christ Jesus for making me adequate to do this work. He went out on a limb, you know, in trusting me with this ministry.” Maybe it’s arrogant to think that I have been entrusted with any ministry at all; but I like the idea that I don’t have to be perfect or wonderful to make a difference–just adequate.

                                                 Southern Idaho