Textures of Text: Stone Crossings ~ Rising Above the Mess

I read it last summer. Straight through. And posted about the towla worm here.

But there is more, so much more in this book by L.L. Barkat, author of God in the Yard, the book that I am slowly making my way through while I sit in my own yard.

I pick Stone Crossings up again every so often because I’m drawn to the beauty of the words and the depths to which L.L. is willing to dive to share her story of grace.

In chapter 3 she talks about messes and tossed treasures and shares how she found her rock tumbler, eviscerated in the yard, its contents spilled and scattered beneath the window from where her stepfather tossed it.

She describes her stepfather as “a closed book scribbled with forbidding hatred,” perhaps the basis of his messmaking that may have stemmed from a history of messes in his own early life.

And she reminds us that “we all have to live with some pretty deep litter.”

Some of us have been cradled in messes, and some of us have managed to do a pretty good job of making our own beds.

Truth is, we’re all a mess.

And Jesus doesn’t necessarily keep us out of messes or even clean them up.

At least not in our way or in our timing.

Like do it yesterday, please.

Sometimes we just have to wait and trust–and keep wading through the muck.

Like Priscilla.

“One of my favorite examples of a person who braved the waiting times is the biblical figure Priscilla. This woman suffered at the hands of a major messmaker, yet she managed to glide through the rubble with grace, dignity, and a generous spirit.” ~Stone Crossings

Who was that messmaker who made a mess for Priscilla?

That would be Claudius who expelled the Jews from Rome (Acts 18:2).

One day she had a home. The next she didn’t.

She eventually returned to Rome, but God had a plan for her in the waiting.

She and her husband ended up in Corinth where they faithfully and graciously served God in spite of their own losses and at risk for their lives (Romans 16:4) and even traveled with Paul.

L.L. wonders how Priscilla could rise above her life messes to grow into a gracious and hospitable person. Did tents have anything to do with it?

Priscilla made tents, and “as a maker of transient housing” and in the “quiet moments of binding leather to leather,” she may have reflected on Paul’s words.

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” ~2 Corinthians 4:17 (NIV)

“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” ~2 Corinthians 5:1 (NIV)

“Such realizations would have prepared her to face the mess of unfair change with a wisdom and hope that sees past present circumstances.” ~Stone Crossings

Maybe she realized that “life is impermanent” and “we cannot find complete security in this messy world.”

Good things to remember when we’re  up to our own necks in messes.

Late note: Be sure to visit The Wellspring and read Laura Boggess’ reflection on the first two chapters of this book–Conversion and Shame. Just makes one want to savor peanut butter and Fluffernutter wrapped in white bread.