As a Christmas present, I received Bead Attitudes, the polymer clay artwork of Dan Roth in Sandusky, Ohio. The ten prayer beads can be prayed in multiple ways as the accompanying paper suggests. I will share a few of these ways with you. If you don’t have Bead Attitudes, a decade of the rosary or your ten fingers will be fine.

• Pray for ten family members or persons in need
• Repeat your favorite name for God ten times.
• Count ten blessings.
• Feel God’s love and light on each bead.
• Bless ten persons you will probably meet this day.
• Call to mind ten Scriptural names for Jesus: Shepherd, Healer, Savior, Bread of Life….

The first time I received beads at Christmas I was five years old. My four-year-old sister also received her tiny first rosary. As on every other night of the year, we prayed the family rosary on Christmas Eve. My sister and I used our new rosaries. She managed to come out to the right bead.  I was only half-way through my rosary. Just one of the many times my younger sister was smarter than I.  (Don’t worry.  We’ve always had a super-excellent attitude toward one another.)