This week I have listened to many stories, and I’ve shared many stories. At the end of the day, before turning out lights in the prayer room, I have noticed pebbles and stones shifting. Some are stacked on each other, some on crosses, and others moved to other parts of the room. What stories do these stones share? If I listen I can hear their longing, their laments and their joy. If I listen, I can follow their path. If I listen, they can help me understand.
It is our stories. Our sacred, chaotic, blessed stories; our awe-drenched, doubting, joyous stories. It is our stories that are the stones of God’s language on the rocky, jagged, radiant path of life. It is the holy listener who helps arrange these stones into cairns which point the way to God’s desire for our lives and God’s desire for every moment. The cairns, if patiently balanced, uneven though they be, if patiently balanced, can point the way to heaven. Heaven, after all, is making God-serving meaning of our stories on this rocky, jagged, radiant path of life. ~ Jennifer Hoffman
Bread for the Journey 