Life is a dithering between Belief and Disbelief.
Walking steadily, drawing Truth toward us like small prized stones found and stuffed quickly into a pocket, along the way. This Walk is unassuming and ordinary; most days are unpretentious, in the hunt for Assurance. Life is full of yearning. I have learned. I don’t need to fear the Path. It is solid and sure. I can trust The Journey as I lean down to pick up a new unusual stone.
I have a jar full of them by now, saving Ideas. I have collected Belief all my life. At first I didn’t trust the Path, and then I didn’t trust the Stones. If I found one, I’d give it a quick glance or thought, and I’d toss it away. Not sparkly enough, or exciting.
I’ve been searching for magnificent glittery stones—for a Life of Significance. In the process I threw many Truths away because I am unimpressed.
I’m a True Collector now—these pebbles and stones I now pick up joyfully, turning them over in my hand gratefully. I take them home, rinsing in the sink seeking to see their splendor found underneath the dirt and wear and tear. I place them in a Collection Jar of my heart. They are heavy inside, weighty. Their shapes change me in important ways, forging Awareness; I am emerging into a new, different person. I’m eager for each insight, even when the transformation hurts.
Sometimes it is very uncomfortable.
Finding Faith, Hope, and Love were hard to accept at first because they change the shape of a person. I was soon adding to them Kindness and Goodness, even Compassion. Found bit by bit, over the years I’ve been surprised by Joy, Acceptance, Tolerance, Mercy and Generosity. I’ve found Justice and Integrity, and Wonder and Awe. I’ve found Beauty and Creativity, in these small and large pebbles or stones. I hold them close, prized—precious. I am grateful, changed from the inside out, shaped into a New and Different person.
And yet, I’m learning that I cannot simply collect these Stones of Truth. The weight of them in my heart becomes a burden, lessening my Joy increasing the Encumbrance. This Knowing without Sharing becomes a discomfort I cannot live with as I feel their weight and significance and choose moment by moment to begin to give them away.
This is the lesson of the Writer or creative of any kind, who comes to a stage in life when Knowledge sits heavy within. Life’s experiences of Joys and Sorrows become a burden, without giving your Stories away. The Pebbles and Stones can become relief for others travelling the rugged path of life together.
As I give away a glittering pebble, or even a weighty gray Stone of Truth, I find another and the truth of that stone has shaped me, making me different already. These stones like Forgiveness, Compassion, Justice and Mercy, as I am willing to give away such beauty. Reshaped, I’m becoming more whole and complete.
God is restructuring, altering me and changing me for the better, again and again. In the telling, in the flow of Story from one person to the next, what was incomplete inside me is now completely altered and worthy.
My stories are Stones heavy within me if I simply collect them. Don’t simply be a collector of Truth, allow your heart to be transformed by giving away your Story, again and again.
