A String and a Prayer is the title of a cool little book by Eleanor Wiley and Maggie Oman Shannon. I got it years ago during a period where I was having fun with beads. The book is about making – and using – prayer beads, and I was reminded of it as I recently brought home a set of prayer beads that really spoke to me.

Prayer beads have been around for a long, long time. Here in south Louisiana, prayer beads = Rosary. As someone who grew up Roman Catholic, I have several rosaries. I live not far from a place called “The Rosary House,” which carries what may well be the world’s largest selection of handmade rosaries. The folks who work there and make these rosaries are true artisans, and they view their job as a ministry. No matter what your faith, there’s a special energy in anything made by hand, particularly if it has some spiritual weight, so to speak. (Prayer shawls are sort of like that. And all of my prayer shawls come with a bit of my hair, and my dog’s as well. Extra mojo, you might say.)

I was on a meditation retreat, and the bookstore had several mala bead sets. According to A String and a Prayer, “Most scholars believe that the use of prayer beads originated in ancient India with the Hindus…sandstone representations dating from 185 B. C. show people holding prayer beads…” The Hindu beads are called a mala and the strand traditionally has 108 beads. The set I took home is made of greens and golds, with bird-shaped accent beads. The tag read “when women were birds and knew all the songs.”

Well. How could I NOT get them, especially with a name like that? It also made me think…we all once knew all the songs, how did we forget them? How did we forget who we truly are, amazing souls enjoying an earthly journey?

I remember my grandmother (pop’s mom) spent her last years bedridden due to heart failure. It broke my heart to see her like that. I was in college at the time, and we lived a few hours away. While she was physically very weak, she was spiritually incredibly strong. Her eyesight was poor, so she couldn’t read or even watch television.

But – she prayed. Any requests we made, she prayed. She prayed my brother through law school, and me through college. She prayed for her family, and I suspect she prayed for patience and grace. Well, she received that in abundance. She was one of the greatest inspirations I’ve had, even though she left her earthly life several decades ago.

Anglican prayer beads aren’t like Catholic rosaries, and no, you don’t count off Hail Marys. I’ve used different prayers (or mantras) with them. The mala is used with mantras or with breath, but I’ve started doing something else with mine.

Each bead represents a person or thing or event in my life that I am thankful for. I name each person / thing, and no, it’s not written down (and it may change slightly each time). It’s amazingly easy to think of 108 (and more) people / things / situations / events that I am grateful for. Yes, I am blessed, and I am truly grateful.

I love it that we have three dimensional, tangible stuff that helps to keep us connected to Spirit. Hey, whatever works, right? Life can get crazy, stressful, hectic. Sometimes we’re so focused on surviving the day/traffic/AT&T headaches/someone’s meltdown that our Divine Connection can get a bit stressed. So…grab your prayer beads. Make a cup of tea (herbal if you’re stressed). Breathe. And say…thank you.