Praying in color prayers do not have to be ornate, complicated, detailed, or beautiful. They can be very simple: just a few strokes of the pen, dots, circles, lines, shapes, a splash of color here and there.

My prayer drawings sometimes become kind of elaborate. I like the feeling of prayerful stillness I get inside of me when I finally sit down with my paper, marker, and pens. So I tend to hang out for a while. Drawing creates a prayer closet that helps me to listen and to sometimes grab a word or two for my prayers. But elaborate is not necessary. Simple is just fine.

I like the simplicity of the prayer below. Each person or place on my prayer “list” occupies a spot on the page like a collection of little sticky notes. The action of praying while drawing plants a post-it-like image in my brain. The images pop into my mind on and off during the day reminding me to “pray without ceasing.” (1Thessalonians 5:17 NRSV)