My prayer-stamp drawing exercise has been erratic. Instead of a stamp or two a day, it has been more like four stamps one day, no stamps for five days. So much for daily discipline. A daily discipline is supposed to help me with my binge-purge mentality about life. I...
Blog
I have been writing the Praying in Color blog for over a dozen years. The entries include theological musings, memoir, reflections on life and Scripture, and hundreds of posts on ways to incorporate Praying in Color into your prayer and spiritual life. In the search bar you can type words like “Scripture, Advent, Lent, calendar templates, intercessory prayer, mourning, gratitude, forgiveness…” or other topics of interest to find related posts. I hope you enjoy exploring this site.
Noise Pollution
Our adult son lives with us--not an uncommon statement by parents in my age bracket. It's temporary--or so we keep telling ourselves--until he gets acclimated to a new career. About a week ago, he started on the graveyard shift: 11:30PM-7:30AM. Not only does his...
WAIT
When members of my family come in the door after a day at work or time away, I'm likely to send a barrage of greetings and questions: "Hi, how are you? How was your day? What did you do? Did anything exciting happen?" On the surface, these questions may seem like...
Coat of Many Fears
I'm taking a course through the Memphis School of Servant Leadership called Fear, Courage and Christian Discipleship. The textbook is Following Jesus in A Culture of Fear by Scott Bader-Saye. During the first chapter alone, my head got tired from so many up-and-down...
Stamp Prayers
My dad introduced me to stamp collecting when I was about eight. He had a couple of navy-blue, hard-cover albums with crunchy-sounding, yellowed cellophane paper separating the pages. Colorful little rectangles were affixed to pages with headings like Mauritania and...
Sick Day
I have a scratchy throat, teary eyes, drippy nose, and an inordinate need to sleep. I'm an impatient patient. Being sick feels like a violation of the Puritan work ethic. How can I take the time to recuperate when there is so much to be done? But today I didn't go to...
Lenten Calendar for Prayer
Here is a sample of the template I've used for the past few years to pray during Lent. Each day I pray for a person or pray a short passage or word from Scripture. As the prayers accumulate day-by-day I can look back and continue to pray for the people from the days...
Lenten Discipline
I have compiled my list of Do's and Don'ts for the 40 days of Lent. 1. Don't eat desserts or snacks. 2. Do pray for someone or something everyday using the Lenten calendar template or some other drawing format. 3. Don't play computer Scrabble. 4. Do something small,...
Ash Wednesday
Most of my praying happens outside of a church building. But I don't want to underestimate the power of a sacred physical space to create for me an intense experience of prayer. I arrived at church at 7:30AM today to receive a smudge of ashes on my forehead--the...
Valentine’s Day
My Valentine to God.... Drawing or doodling gives me a chance to spend time with God without my body complaining. It also creates a quiet space for me to just listen. I don't need words for these prayers, but if words come I don't chase them away. The drawings I do...