Cairns

These are two of several cairns erected in my church sanctuary during Lent.

I recently created a cairn of my own for a class I teach. Several persons were unfamiliar with cairns.

A cairn is a mound of stones piled up as a memorial or a marker. I have most often seen them marking hiking trails. Several times I have created cairns to mark a place outdoors where something moved me profoundly and it seemed I encountered Holy Mystery. I consider my journal a place where I erect cairns of words that also "mark" small and large movements of Spirit in my life.

One dark night cairns marked the treacherous path across a black lava field. Small beams of light from my flashlight found the next cairn and the next cairn... and slowly the path revealed itself.

"Wise pilgrims we, as we bless the cairn

bless the sometimes broken

sometimes silken path

we call our lives..." (Jennifer Hoffman)

Build a cairn to mark a special moment!

Look for cairns guiding your life!