Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Cairn: A Heap of Stones Piled Up as a Memorial

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.

Genesis 28:16-19


Tuesday's Pics


 
 
The concept of a cairn was introduced to me when I visited my sister and her family, while they were living on a farm in Scotland. The cairn throne was a wedding gift to the farmer and his wife. A Scottish marker of the hightest point on their property and a memorial to their wedding vows.
 
I collected the small pile of stones on our  recent vacation at special spots along the shore of Lake Michigan. I piled them on my table the other morning as a reminder of God's goodness to us this summer.
 
Yesterday, I happened upon a blog post about cairns and culture and community and listening.
 
I leave you with the photos to enjoy and a link to the article: Cairn-making.

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for a great post, Kel. Memorial stones are as old as the book of Joshua 4, and I have a "string of stones" on my desk, which are my stones of remembrance, for times of God's mighty faithfulness to me. My journal is a way also to capture these remembrance stones. I know you also place stones in your own journal, and now you do so on your blog and through your photography. Thank you for always helping us to remember what God means to us!
    Lynni

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lynni- you were one person who inspired me to collect stones of rembrance. I still have one from our last jornaling class.

      Delete
  2. Kei, I teach on this. And I'm so excited to read that you, too, do this very thing. A kindred spirit!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kel, As I began to read your post, I thought, "I'm going to mention the High Calling post so Kel can check it out!" You were already on it. :)

    We did a memorial-stone collecting session at a retreat a few years back, and it was very inspirational for me. Thank you for sharing this here.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Diane- thanks for commenting and sharing your love for memorializing significant moments in your life!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jennifer- I think I found the article at your blog or Tandem Jumping...can't remember...it was very moving and I sent it my twenty something sons to encourage them and also shared it with a group of dear friends that often gather to pray for the next generation...it was a memorial moment for us on Monday as we remembered our High Calling as mothers to pray for our children and for generations to come.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.