People find all sorts of creative uses for the Christmas cards they receive during the holiday season…but here is a prayerful use that will last all year.
When I was growing up, my parents taped Christmas cards around the doorways of our home. By the time Christmas Day arrived, we entered or exited every room in the house with the greetings and blessings of our many family members and friends forming a canopy of love.
Some people turn their Christmas cards into tree ornaments. Others recycle the images and make new cards for the next year. Some trim their cards into gift tags, while others weave baskets with them.
From our first year as a married couple (which, believe me, was a lonnnng time ago), my wife and I turned our Christmas cards into prayers.
After we read and enjoyed each card that arrives during the holidays, we collected them in a basket near our dining room table. By Christmas Day, of course, we had an overflowing assemblage of cards, photos and newsletters. Beginning the day after Christmas we would draw one card from the basket at our family dinnertime and include that person or family in our prayer time following the meal, and then return the card to the back or bottom of the basket.
As our children arrived and joined in the practice, they delighted in picking the next card from the pile and seeing if they knew the sender. Sure, they often cheated and thumbed through to find someone they knew—or a photo card, which they preferred over even the most lavish illustration or personal notation.
The practice of returning each card to the back or bottom of the basket provided a system whereby we prayed for each sender numerous times throughout the year. We continued the rotation until the first Christmas card arrived for the next year, at which time we still had the option of making whatever clever craft or Pinterest-worthy creation came to mind.
Why not put your Christmas cards and holiday newsletters to a prayerful use this year? You don’t even need a basket. Just find a place to collect the cards…and get praying!
