Download Free Prayer Shawl Cards
If you love to knit shawls, consider including free prayer shawl cards with your donation!
Many people knit prayer shawls for charity, but few people think about prayer shawl cards! As meaningful as it is to receive a prayerfully knitted gift, a special card can make it more personal, giving it deeper meaning and taking your donation one step further!
What is a Prayer Shawl?
Prayer shawls are traditional forms of praying for others in a tangible, physical way. It's one thing to say "I'm praying for you," but another to hand someone a physical object that constitutes an entire process of prayer! Usually, prayer shawls are given to people who are in a time of suffering and need. They can go to people you know, or you can donate them to total strangers.
Patterns for prayer shawls differ, but many of them work in patterns of three (for example, K3 P3), and many use three colors. The number three has a great deal of significance in various world religions, and it often features in prayer shawl cards as well as prayer shawl patterns.
What is a Prayer Shawl Card?
On the surface of things, a prayer shawl card is a very obvious thing: a card that accompanies the shawl and contains a specific message. However, the card can do much more than that. It can provide hope and love, personalizing your gift to the point where it stops being a shawl and becomes physical evidence that somebody cares.
You can use anything for a card, from a blank piece of paper to a store-bought card. Several places on the internet have free downloads for prayer shawl cards. One of the most popular is Lion Brand Yarn's prayer shawl site, where you can download blank cards, tree of life designs, or shared warmth designs (link to http://www.lionbrand.com/prayerShawlCards/). Of course, you can always design your own, too!
Ideas for Writing a Card
It can be awkward to write a prayer shawl card for a person in need, especially a stranger. Don't get intimidated, though. The Lion Brand site has some suggestions for messages to include on your cards. Basically, though, you want to express your sympathy, understanding, and love in a genuine, unpatronizing way. Avoid giving advice, trying to convert recipients to your religious beliefs, or use clichés (like "in time you will see why this happened.").
Using prayer shawl cards is a great way to make your gift even more special than you ever imagined!