I have one friend in Southall who is a troublemaker. He always changes his seat, wants a different desk for no reason and even asks for more rice after dinner. He complains about everything all the time and is tense and anxious. I prepared a colouring activity using the story of the ten bridesmaids from the Bible. I assembled a couple of people for the colouring class. At the time, the guy was wandering around me and I invited him to join in the activity. More people joined and there were seven in total. When I started putting colour pens and pencils on the desk, they were smiling and ready to engage. The guy looked like a child who was free in his comfort zone. All of them seemed to feel good and a sense of accomplishment from this colouring activity. They didn’t want to go home before finishing colouring. I was so impressed with their levels of concentration. I have learned valuable lessons from my friends. According to psychologist Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihai’s research, ‘flow’, or deep concentration on one thing gives someone an enjoyable and satisfactory experience.
How can my friends draw close to God through colouring? I have thought about creative prayer. I thought that perhaps communicating visually with God in prayer would be a good start. Perhaps this would help them to communicate with God in brokenness and honesty.
I have three expectations for my friends – restoration through emotional activity, motivation and hope through encouragement and an encounter with God through creative prayer.
I am not 100% satisfied with the current colouring materials. For example, my friends said that in the colouring book, the ten ladies don’t look like women. And the colouring ability is different depending on each person. So if everyone is to enjoy the activity, I need to prepare some new colouring materials. I pray that God’s presence will be with them and that I will be able to develop new materials guided by the Holy Spirit.
