Finally, Prayer Beads!

It took me a while to get my head around making my own prayer beads. I wanted my prayer beads to be individualized because I made them, not because I am starting my own mode of prayer. Although, if I did I could write a book and tour the country preaching the easy 5-step plan that starts with making your own prayer beads and ends with the final step of signing the lease to your yacht as it rests in the crystal blue waters of the resort town you just bought in Cancun. Oh wait, wasn’t that book called the Prayer of Jabez? (It’s been a long time since you heard those words, huh? Never forget!)

So off I went to the local craft store to find some wooden beads and a cross pendant. My wife came along for both moral and aesthetic support, and she joined me in making her own prayer beads as well. We found some really nice beads that fit our own personalities. I think it is important to have beads that reflect your personality, because then they become a part of you, a way to transcend your individuality (yourself, your beads) to the communion of the saints (the Godhead and the Body of Christ). If nothing else, you will not use the beads if you dislike their appearance. Call me vain, but I picked out some wood beads that remind me of the woods and bookshelves, both things I enjoy, especially when heavily laden with either fruit or books, respectively.

A big snag came with the purchasing of a cross pendant. The one at the local craft store was pathetic—it had was painted, flimsy, and looked like a toy you get in the plastic bubbles at the grocery store. It took me a while to find a pendant that fit my liking, but I providentially stumbled upon Full Circle Beads, and Cyd was gracious enough to let me pick out a pendant from her collection and buy it without beads. I highly recommend the store, the beads are fantastic and the service equally so.

Once I had assembled the beads and the pendant I needed to put them all together. This may not be the crafty way to do things, but I used the 8lb test line I had sitting in my tackle box to put the whole thing together. I figured the prayer beads would not break if an angry and confused bass could not break the line. The first time I put them together it came out all wrong, there was too much line and it looked sloppy. The second time I tried I couldn’t tie the knot to finish it because I had too little line.

The third time I asked my wife to do it.

Success! I had my prayer beads. I wanted beads that were small enough to fit in my pocket when I go hiking, so they are small. Nonetheless I have been using my beads regularly as an aid to silent prayer and it is taking some getting used to, but I think I’ll come around.