So much more than coloured pencils and gel pens

I had an ah-ha moment today!
Some years ago I joined in the craze for colouring in. I never did much of it as a child and so was intrigued by the move to 'adult' or 'mindful' colouring. My involvement was aided and abetted by my beautiful daughter.People say to me, 'I met your beautiful daughter today,' to which I respond, 'Which one? I have two beautiful daughters.' Invariably it's the local one. But I digress.
The younger beautiful daughter gave me a colouring book and some wondrous Derwent pencils such as I hankered after as a child but never had. Mind you I think I really like Faber Castells these days but then of course there are the Jasart and the cheap shop tins and the gel pens and the Derwent Inktense (Said daughter gave me those as well.)
So  tentatively I started colouring. For three years or so I enjoyed a colouring group meeting in The Lakes coffee shop (this is not an ad but I do recommend it) on the shores of beautiful Lake Bonney. The two friends who started it taught me that there are no rights or wrongs about colouring and not to be afraid to make mistakes. Smudges can be part of the whole piece.
And so every day I sit and colour. Sometimes it's fairly automatic colouring of patterns or mandalas. Other times it's half way artistic. But it slows me down and gives me time to think, to dream, to connect with something more than me. Sometimes it's mindless and sometimes mindful, whatever the day needs.
And then this morning in amongst my colouring I was reading from Joan Chistitter's book The Monastery of the Heart and found this.

So the colouring fad may be past its peak - not so many pencils and books in the cheap shops now, but what it does for me is the thing. I'd include it in the list here amongst sacred images, music etc. It helps me to be still and aware of the very presence of God. Phew!! And to be mindful of the needs of those around me.

NOTE: big thanks to those two who showed me the way in colouring. You know who you are. Both names start with C.

and to my daughter who maybe realised just what I needed. Her name starts with B...