cairns

So recently I went to the cemetery for the first time in like 5 years...the one where my dad is buried. Funny thing, I drive past it almost daily, but I dont go there. No need. He's not there...I know that, but for some reason I was drawn there the other day.

As I stood there and thought, "I have no flowers...or anything to leave her to show someone's been here" I saw some rocks. And then, my first thought was - a cairn - I need to build a cairn. Do you know what a cairn is? I found a blog on hiking that said this...

"With regard to Colorado hiking, a cairn is a pile rocks placed near a trail in lieu of man-made trail markers (e.g., wood signs, wood posts, plastic/metal tree emblems, painting on rocks, etc.). Further, cairns are used on ambiguous trails where hikers have been known to get lost. Staying on a trail marked primarily with cairns can be challenging because cairns simply signal that you are near a trail and do not necessarily signal the direction that the trail is heading. Thus, effectively following cairns along a trail requires finding the next cairn in the sequence of cairns."

I found some rocks and built a lil Flower Mound cairn...I told my bro later and he loved the idea. Our own lil cairn right there for Dad. As the day went on, I kept thinking about my cairn...and then, today as I was reading/praying I was struck by something (bear with me, life analogy coming) - my life is a process of building cairns...guides, markers, signals for where I've been. I thought of all the pains/sufferings - and the good stuff, too, of course - in my life and visualized adding another rock to my pile. Hmmm. How many piles do I have?

How do I let all those things - the things I should never forget that God has let occur in my life - guide my life? Guide my path...the direction I go?

Ya know, when I went to Colorado a few summers ago and my bro took us hiking, when I saw a cairn he told me, "don't touch it...leave it the way you found it or add to it, but dont take any of the rocks away...they need to be there". And so goes my life as well...each experience NEEDS to be there.

I've been doing lots of "personal digging" in my life lately - hoping to feel led to write about it soon - and God is showing me some amazing ways He wants to lead me in a new direction. He wants to take me on different paths that I've never thought I could manage. I've always decided, "this is just the way God made me...my destiny is to be HERE, just the way I am...".

He's been taking this opportunity to change that thinking. I have to trust that all things work together for His purpose - not just say it, but BELIEVE IT. Live it.

And so, the images of the cairns stays with me today...and I'll beg Him to continue to show me just how He wants me to stack my rocks. Being led is not easy...trusting the path is a struggle when you have NO idea where its going. But, I thank Him that He cares enough for each of us - regardless of how we regard Him - to provide a trail...whether we take it or not.

"Staying on a trail marked primarily with cairns can be challenging because cairns simply signal that you are near a trail and do not necessarily signal the direction that the trail is heading. "

"But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life..."

Comments

[Jeff McAbee]

Hi Kris, I just found your blog and Wow! Regarding your cairns post, this is a piece of scripture that I keep on my desk.
Jeremiah 31:21
The King James version actually says "make thee high heaps"
(I have the American Standard Version here)
I'll try to remember to send you a pic of the most artfully arranged cairns that we encountered up a remote valley on the South Island of New Zealand. Beautiful. Anyway, love the blog and like I said, I always enjoy "seeing" you, Brent,(we were on soccer teams together when we were 5) and your family. Ya'll remind me why I didn't write of Texas entirely when I left for Colorado in 94. Someday, you'll have to bring your bikes to New England.

[barc]

remember that Joshua ordered the children of Israel to place stones where they had crossed the Jordan into the promised land as a reminder to subsequent generations of what the LORD had done for them. (Joshua 4)