Me: "Why do you need all these rocks laying all over the place?"
Katie: "They are not rocks, they are stones."
Me: "Same thing is it not?"
Katie: "No, it is not the same thing."
Me: "Ooooookaaayyyy?"
Turns out the difference between a rock and a stone is that a rock is a part of nature, a natural structure from the earth, while a stone is created from a rock and has been polished, trimmed down, smoothed out, "dressed up" of sorts. Rocks are a gift from God and mother nature, stones are made from those rocks and used for construction purposes. She told me! Lesson learned.
When my now wife Katie, then girlfriend, first moved in with me we did our best to incorporate both our possessions into one household. A mix of her things and a mix of my things and to be honest about it, it turned out to be less of a task then I felt it would. I knew I would have to give up my man cave atmosphere and let her bring a touch of lace and frill to our place. Little by little she brought over a few personal possessions here and there. I am sure Katie felt the same way about the little things I held onto as I found myself feeling about some of the things she hung onto. Thankful neither one of us could be considered hoarders (keepers of all things) and both of us tend to be neat freaks (her more so than me which I find odd).
Katie is a Yogi and practices her yoga positions faithfully. A big part of Katie's yoga is meditation which includes different forms of relaxation exercises. One of those methods involve stones, bigger than pebbles but smaller than boulders, that are used for various forms of relations to the yogi's of the meditation world. I tease her endlessly about the stones she has laying around everywhere but they really are not a bother to me at all. They contain various words on them and depending on the day, Katie will pick one up and put it in her pocket to help calm her over an issue that may be bothering her. When her grandfather passed away recently she laid one of the stones inside his casket for him to take on his next journey beyond his journey on earth. The stone contained the word "eternity", something her and her grandfather discussed days prior to his passing away. She found comfort in that action, comfort in selecting that rock as a final gift to her grandfather.
Each of us have our own way to handle the stress and difficult times in our lives. I am reminded of that each day I walk through the rooms of our home and find Katie's stones sitting on a table, a dresser, a nightstand, a bathroom sink, or the kitchen counter. As much grief as I give her about her stone collection something I never realized until we moved in our place together is that I have often given, and received, stones that contained words of comfort on them. I carry a few things in my pockets daily that help me get through one more day. When I feel restless or ill at ease, even when I have no idea what it is about, I reach into my pocket and hold onto my cross, or my pin, or that slightly smaller stone with the word FAITH written on it.
In life we find our own ways to cope and our own ways to relieve stress and the pressures of life we find weighing us down. Some of go dark and turn to drugs and alcohol, some of carry stones that are symbolic of what our current struggle is. Some of us turn to God and build on our faith for survival. Some of us lean on family and friends to help us through it all. Regardless of how we choose to cope, everyone goes through times in their lives when they need a little extra something to help us through it.
Katie's stone collection is all about keeping balance in her life. Just as my writing keeps balance in mine. My dad Jake, he has boxing. Misfit Charlie has cooking and baking. Even my eight year old nephew Jimmy has balance in his life by doing workbook pages every day. Everyone needs balance and how they find that balance is what they find comfort and joy in outside of their normal existence. How do you stay balanced? What do you turn to when you feel unsettled or uneasy? Hopefully what you turn to is something on the positive side that helps you deal with your struggle rather then avoid it by turning to something unpleasant.
If you struggle with finding balance in your life, don't forget that God is an option and through prayer you can build your faith and your trust in Him that will help you through anything you face in life that you feel you cannot cope with. God can direct you to a more balanced life, even if it through collect rocks. There is a direct link between prayer and meditation ...
