A Stone

We pick up shells and stones on the beach because something about them is pleasing. We leave them on our shelves and windowsills to touch now and then and to enjoy again. But to make something a real presence in our lives we must use it often and get to know it intimately.

Many people have used rosary beads, mala beads, ankhs and crosses, amulets and crystals, as objects of significance. If we are not drawn to a specifically religious object, perhaps a little, ordinary stone will do...

...M E D I T A T I O N

A little stone grows warm in our hands.
The moisture from our skin makes it glisten,
just as any loving touch makes what is touched
glisten with life.

We hold it in prayer like an anchor,
to keep our thoughts from drifting away...

Taken from Simple ways by Gunilla Norris