She had gone into the bead shop to purchase beads for a prayer necklace. There are 108 daily recollections, along with section beads, and intention beads, and marker beads. She wanted to stay within her budget, so she and the shop owner both had their eye on the prices, but it was vital that the beads not only looked right, she wanted to be able to feel where she was when she was praying.
The marker beads needed to feel distinctive from intention beads, and the daily recollection beads needed to be unique from the section beads. They finally determined the round beads would best serve for the 108 daily recollection beads. There were four strings of that type of bead, but how many single beads were on each, and were there enough?
Most strings in the shop had 25 beads on them….
The shop owner picked up one string and began to count, then announced, “Twenty seven.”
She counted the second string and said, “Twenty seven.”
She grabbed a calculator, hit some buttons, and whispered, “Four times 27 is 108.”
They each picked up a strand and counted.
“Twenty seven,” they said together.
Sometimes we notice that everything has been laid out for us!