Becoming a Prayer Writer: Part 1

Blog Post #25

Nancy Kopack: becoming a prayer writer

There was a twinkle in my aunt’s eyes on that lovely spring day. She sat me securely on her lap, placed an odd tool in my hand and guided it with hers in a continuous process – first to the candle flame, then into beeswax, then to the white surface of an egg where black lines flowed into images of tulips. After dye turned the egg yellow, each petal was filled with hot wax that quickly cooled. When the egg was dyed green, she asked if I liked the color. An affirming nod and we were once again applying wax to the egg, this time covering the stems and leaves. The egg came out of its last dye purple and my aunt smiled at the unappealing patches of scorched wax. Perched on her lap, I watched intently as she held the egg close to the candle flame. She wiped away the wax as it melted revealing a thrilling beauty. My love for pysanky – Ukrainian Easter eggs – has never wavered since. It would take many years for me to discover that hidden within their beauty is the greater beauty of God.

Throughout my youth, family stories and discussions, books and articles, offered to expand my understanding of Ukrainian culture and folklore. My only interest at that time was the happy contentment I felt doing an art that I loved. The more pysanky I made, the more I realized that the feeling was beyond youthful exuberance: it was the result of one-pointed concentration. With the mind fully absorbed on the task at hand, as it is when applying hot wax to an eggshell, a silent, relaxing state of well-being naturally occurs.

As I matured into adulthood, I discovered a spiritual path that resonated as truth within me, one that centers on communing with God in meditation. A few months into my daily meditation routine, an inner urge prompted me to create a pysanka. Surprisingly, I found myself opting out of the pencil guidelines that I relied on to achieve the egg’s symmetry. A feeling convinced me it wasn’t a problem, that Something greater than myself was in charge. That beautiful pysanka still reminds me that God certainly knows what He is doing!

It was the unexpected death of my mother, however, that changed forever my perception of pysanky. Sadness consumed me for months without relief. Seeking comfort in the familiar, I started creating a pysanka. Intent on making the lines straight, the design balanced, I relaxed into an inner awareness in which I noticed the sadness vanishing – a joyful love was filling the void! In that magical moment, a thought entered my mind: “How exactly did a pysanka facilitate such a blessing?” Eagerly exploring the folklore and related materials surrounding pysanky for answers, I discovered an interesting correlation of facts.

….to be continued in next month’s blog post.

The goldfish in the above pysanka are a prayer-symbol representing the search for Truth. Placed within a sea of forty triangles, which symbolically represents a prayer for unshakable perseverance, good fortune is the natural result.