Wordless Book Inspired, Pony Bead Cross Craft

Before we headed off to the Good Friday service at our church today, I put together a quick craft with the girls, to review the significance of what we're celebrating. The instructions, modified (so no glue is required) from these, on the Sunday School Network, might look a little daunting, but once you get going, they're pretty simple.

Start with six beads for the colors of the wordless book pages (see the bottom of this post for the meaning of the colors) - yellow, black, blue, red, white, and green, and a piece of yarn about three feet long, with a dull tipped, plastic or embroidery needle on each end.

We discovered we could color beads with permanent markers, to make up for colors we didn't have.  They still look shiny, and the marker doesn't rub off.

Thread one end of the yarn through the yellow bead, and position it in the center of the length of yarn.

Then, thread one end of the yarn through the black bead...

...from the left to right, and the other end through...

...from right to left.  Pull the two ends, until the black bead is sitting up against the yellow bead...

...and repeat the process for the blue bead.

Thread the red bead onto the left side of the yarn...

...and thread the white bead onto the right side.  Push them up against the blue bead.

Then, thread the end of the yarn from the white side, back through the blue bead from right to left...

...and the end from the red side, back through the blue bead from left to right.

Thread both ends through the green bead, again from opposite directions...

...pulling the ends tight...

...until the green bead tops the cross.

Tie the yarn in a double knot on top of the green bead, to keep the beads in place...

...and tie the loose ends together to form a necklace, that can slip on and off over the child's head (supervise younger children to avoid a strangulation hazard).

The same process can be used with letter beads, to create the "Yes - Jesus" necklace below, for older children.  You just have to be careful to string the letters on, right side up.

As to the pony bead necklace, thinking along the lines of the Wordless Book, the gold bead reminds us of the awesome glory of God, and the light He gives for people to walk by.
Revelation 21:22-24 - 22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.

Unfortunately, we are all walking in the darkness of sin, represented by the black bead, and the penalty for sin, that separates us from God, is death.
Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

That makes us sad, and that sadness, which is what the blue bead stands for, can make us want to turn away from our sin.
2 Corinthians 7:10 - Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

Happily, the red bead stands for Jesus' blood, that he shed on the cross, to pay the death penalty for our sin for us.
Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The white bead then, stands for our justification (just as if I had not sinned) through Jesus' blood.  He makes our sinful lives as white and pure as our yard on a snowy morning (like today), before anyone has walked through it.
Isaiah 1:18 - “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Finally, the green bead stands for growing in our Christian life.  Jesus rose from the dead, and through Him we are reborn to a new life - and though we are dead to sin, we are alive in Him. Living things grow!
2 Peter 3:18 - But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.


It's great to be a homeschooler.