Handwritten Prayers
My parents were born before WWII. Both were very organized and kept meticulous records. Stumbling over a plastic recipe box filled with handwritten index card prayers on gave me pause as we cleaned out my father’s last residence after he passed away. I knew I wanted to keep it as a memento. Discovering both parents’ handwritten prayers shared publicly in their church and various service groups was a joy and a reminder to me. I always felt safe in my parents’ house, even as an adult with my own family. Their index card prayers are windows to their hearts, and their strength based on their faith.
May all our words be windows to our hearts.
Why Acorns?
Mom loved acorns. She loved envisioning that such a small item carried the potential giant oak within its DNA. She loved the texture contrasts of an acorn; from the smooth silken base to the “hat” that could be furry or sharply angled.
Praying and Remembering All With Cards
Mom liked to add a hand-drawn acorn (the Parents Prayers logo & favicon is her drawing) as the logo for her recycled greeting cards. Recycling card fronts and then gluing them to a new piece of cardstock was the basis for a “new” creation. Next, a card greeting was personally created for her many card recipients. A log of every friend’s and family member’s “important” dates was kept in a neatly compiled journal. Over the years, many birthdays, anniversaries, and even deaths of loved ones were transcribed within. Each month, would find my mother organizing her monthly output of cards based upon these dates. I am quite sure she was best friends with the US Postal system staff wherever they lived. An amateur stamp collector, she always made a point to purchase the special big lovely stamps, not just the boring ones, to affix to the envelopes.
Gifting Acorns and Reflective Prayers
Acorns were always easy Mother’s Day gifts for us, however I don’t recall their being gifted when we were young. Hobbies and interests change once children leave the house, perhaps. There certainly was more time to reflect without distraction. However I know my mother was very skillful at claiming time to reflect, without making a big deal over it. Time was claimed while washing dishes, or while ironing Dad’s shirts. Whether baking bread or while weeding and transplanting little sprigs of roots that a friend might have given her, my mother found the time and wonder to ponder.
Handwritten Prayers and Multitasking
I imagine, that reflection and organizing words, occurred while she did these other tasks. When the day quieted down, or before it cranked up again, she wrote. My mother loved paper, but she didn’t compose on a pile of scraps of paper, as I do. Oh no, she would have one piece of notebook paper that had the words perfectly written in pristine order. There were no cross-outs, STET, or arrows. Then once the thought was composed perfectly, she might even type it in order to take with her to be shared at church. More often than not, however, these thoughts might be shared in a letter to a friend, journalist, or celebrity. She didn’t write politicians.
Her collection of acorns was prolific. We found all types of acorns: glass, wooden, silver, and gold after she passed away in 2009. Each of us reclaimed ones that held personal special meaning. Today they might reside at a kitchen window sill or in a jewelry box. In a couple months, perhaps on the Christmas tree.
You never know where they will turn up.
You never know how big the oak tree will grow, but as with a mustard seed (another favorite, but less friendly to hold) you have to have faith.