By Libi Clifford
Since March, I’ve spent a lot of hours looking for something different to do. I have lots of things that I could do, but doing the same things get tiresome. I have spent a lot of time in prayer but even the words in prayer begin to get repetitious after a while.
When I am looking for something different, the result is usually one of two things. The first is to poke about in the internet. The second is to spend time simply looking out the window at the park behind my house. God’s work in nature is always changing. I am always fascinated by what I see when I really pay attention, but I am also drawn to the colours. Why and how are there so many greens for instance? As an embroiderer, quilter and interior decorator, colour has always been an important part of my life.
Google “colour” sometime, follow the trail and I guarantee hours of time-wasting. I ended up with colours in the Bible, colours of the Resurrection, colours of the Holy Spirit and on and on. Who knew the possibilities? What I didn’t find was colours and prayer, other than a suggestion for doodling as you pray.
As I looked out the window later and thought about colour and prayer, I realized that I already pray in colour. When I run out of the right words, I try to picture the perfect colour that represents those words. I use words and colour but struggling to find the words can slow down the process and I really don’t like using the same words all of the time.
Colour is essential to all of us although we may not often think about it. Even someone who is colour blind sees a myriad of grey hues. Our reactions to the same colour are different because colour is personal but I bet God knows what we mean. I am sure my happy prayer of thanksgiving is just as effective in yellow as in words. Instead of spending prayer time trying to express my thoughts perfectly in words, I am going to continue to use colour as well. It simply works for me.
Libi Clifford is an AFP Huron executive member.