Praying in Color

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Möbius Prayers

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Möbius strips are intriguing. A Möbius strip is created by taking a closed band, cutting it, and reattaching it after making a single twist in one of the ends. Unlike a circular band, a mobius strip doesn’t have an inside or outside.  If you place your pencil anywhere in the center of the strip across its width and start drawing a line along the path of the strip, you’ll end up right back where you started from. There are some interesting Youtubes and animations about Möbius strips–especially ones with ants and gears.

I want to be able to draw a Möbius strip. I’m getting closer, but not really there. Here’s an attempt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve wanted to draw a Möbius strip partly as a space for prayers–either in the center or along the band itself. I imagine the prayer being spoken or breathed along the strip. The prayer goes on and on without ever stopping–even when I no longer pray it. Here is a prayer for friends and their families using a model of a Möbius strip from a UCLA website.

Praying with Artist Trading Cards

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Friend Jim Bickford uses artist trading cards to draw his intercessory prayers. Artist trading cards are like baseball cards. Artists create their artwork on them and then trade them with other artists. The 2.5″ x 3.5″ cards are the perfect size for portable pocket-prayers–kind of Goldilocks size –“not too big, not too little, but just right.”

Here is a picture of some of Jim’s prayers. When a person needs special or urgent prayer attention, Jim puts the card in the window of his wallet. Jim says, “So each day a new name appears in the window. It’s easy to pull out a few cards and focus on these friends and family. Since I have more invested in the cards than just writing down someone’s name the experience seems much more personal. My praying in color prayer cards have become a vital part of my daily idiosyncratic rule of life.”

 

I just found out today that my husband Andy has been holding the wallet-window seat of honor for the past week since heart bypass surgery. Now that Andy is home and making a wonderful recovery, Jim will return him to the not-so-urgent stack and replace the card with another person whose prayer needs are more immediate.

Thanks, Jim, for all of those prayers! In the past ten days I have felt a wave of round-the-clock “unceasing prayer” from Jim and all the other loyal pray-ers around the world who have carried Andy (and me) through this surgery and recovery. Thanks be to God!