Prayer Bracelet – Christmas
How to use a Prayer Bracelet to focus prayers at Christmas
It all starts with God
It always starts with God
His plan
His purpose
His way of drawing us closer,
His encouragement in relationship
Families, communities,
Togetherness with each other
Togetherness with God
Christmas needs to begin with the personal
The angel Gabriel told Mary
One to one
God had chosen
She had choice
To accept
To deny
It isn’t always easy to
Accept God’s plan for us
I pray
As Mary prayed
I am the Lord’s ready to serve
Whatever God has planned
Let it be unto me
Mary accepted God’s plan
An unmarried girl
Carrying the Truth
Must have been Tortuous
Until her cousin Elizabeth
Also touched by God
Affirmed her
Confirming
Truth becoming bearable
God rejoices in
Relationships
Fellowship
With those who help us to bear
Whatever God has purposed for us
Fellowship
Fans the flames
Enables the Fire of the Spirit
To Burn brightly within
Silence Bead
For Mary
Difficulties did not end there
As her young virgin body grew
So would the rumours
Whispers
Accusations
Shame
Was she alone?
Was she ostracised?
Was she broken?
I know when the going gets difficult
The enemy cannot wait
To worm doubt in to the mind
To press fear home
Pray into
The fears that beset
The difficulties that work away at
Wholeness
Ask God to meet you in the wilderness
Only He can make sense of it
Mary’s wilderness experience
Wrings from her
A song of rejoicing
Do I sing
Rejoicing in the Wilderness?
Silence Bead
With the Christ child growing within
Mary
Kept her Peace
Kept her Poise
The Serenity that often comes with pregnancy
Grew too
The
Chaos of commercialised Christmas
Deadens the Serenity of the Season for us
We lose track of the real significance
Simplicity of Serenity
In the busyness we make of it
Pray the calm brightness of Christmas
Settles in your heart
God’s Love – for us
God chose Mary
To Mother his son
To bring His likeness into the world
As an example of love
She loved God enough to submit
She accepted God’s love
She accepted God’s purpose
Even when it ruined her reputation
God chooses you
Because He first Loved you
God’s Love – for others
Mary held things in her heart
Joseph held things in his heart
Together they
Grew the Christ Child
To become considerate and caring
In the world
God poured Himself into the world
Through Joseph and Mary
Because He loves us
A love that cannot be earned with Good Deeds
A love that cannot be earned with Perfection
A Love that brings health even to the dying
God’s love grows
To Influence
The Individual
The Family
The wider Community
The World
Through the quiet willing person
With a loving heart
Silence
Ah the Mysteries of Christmas
King of Kings
Born in a stable
Gift bearing Magi
Men from other faiths
Guiding Star
Angels and Shepherds
Simeon and Anna
So the Christmas story moves on
By the Mysterious Hand of God
To acknowledge God’s place
In the Human family
In the Human heart
To Acknowledge Giving
From the Heart
Submit to the Mystery of God
Celebrate the Mystery
Acknowledge God knows more than we
Silence Bead
At Christmas
There is Light Bright
And Deeds Dark
Murder of Innocence
Wounding of Mother Heart
Dark Age in Egypt of which we know little
Dark Angels tried to destroy
This Christ Child
A Child come
To unsettle the settled
Causing many to fall
Causing others to stand
Darkness even now
Threatens to consume the World
Dark Angels still threaten Christmas
A subtle shift of purpose and significance
Polluting
Corrupting
Giving
Receiving
Feasting
Celebration
Togetherness
Family
By acknowledging the Darkness
We can willingly turn to the Light
Silence Bead
Christmas celebrates the Coming of the Light
True light
Light that Darkness cannot quench
Light that illuminates the clean and unclean
Light that stirs discomfort
So we may find our Way to God
There to be Comforted
First Christmas
The Dawn of Emmanuel
God with Us
Pray each Christmas will be a Celebration
Of Christ Child
Of God’s love for us
Resurrect the First Love and return again to God
Silence Bead
God Bead – Revisited
Through this journey
At the heart of Christmas
Conclude your time of Prayer and Meditation
At your Nativity
At your origin
At your Beginnings
At the Core of who you are
At the Core of whom you can become
In God
Words and Photographs © Denise Stanford 2010
Within the Vine 