The Faith Rock That I Gave A Friend

Years ago, I was in a meeting with several others and I passed around a bag of stones with value words on them. The photo above is one that this friend of mine received.

At the time, he was struggling with his faith. We didn’t talk about it any more than that. Last month he sent me a photo and told me that he and another friend of ours, trade this stone back and forth on their recovery birthdays.

He then explained how helpful that has been for them. To keep that stone as a good solid reminder of their faith and what it means to them.

I was so touched by this, I decided to share this story by writing about it.

In my Ojibwe language, there are animate and inanimate words. My favorite example of this has been that rock is animate and stone is inanimate. When I titled this story, I put Faith Stone. Then I noticed that I saved the picture under the Faith Rock title.

I was skeptical at one time about what is animate and what is inanimate. But now there are some studies that water is alive, and studies that there is truth to the ‘tree huggers’ knowing what they are doing, and how they benefit.

It is all in the Ojibwe language and we were told that everything is in the language.

Why is that important? What do animate and inanimate have to do with this? I believe that the Faith item I gave them is alive and therefore a rock. It is helping them to stay grounded in their faith. I believe it is not just the word but the rock that is doing this for them.

I use the seven grandfathers in a group every week. A young woman this week said she only needed two more grandfathers as she had been to the program before and then she picked up others that were on windowsills around the house.

I have told previous guests that the grandfather was for them for the week and to leave them on a sill if they didn’t want them after their stay.

I gave her the other two rocks to complete her set. I ask them to think about how they already practice that value. I talk about values that the churches have and that different clubs have that are all similar.

The seven grandfathers are what our Ojibwe people have. They are truth, bravery, humility, honesty, respect, love, and wisdom. A Lakota friend of mine told me when I shared the seven grandfathers with him and others that there was only one difference for the Lakota people.

Then he told this story: Our people were starving, and a stranger came to the camp where we were having what we thought would be our last meal for a while. We weren’t going to share as we just had enough food to feed our camp.

We couldn’t send him away without eating. It wasn’t the way of our people, so we shared our best with this guest. As he packed up to go on his way, he said, “There is a herd of buffalo camped right over that ridge.” So, our first value became generosity.

I told my Lakota friend that I grew up with generosity too as you always offered something to drink, usually water first, then coffee or tea, and then something to eat.

I was told that people usually had a long way to travel to get to anyone’s home, so many people had that habit of offering water and food. My Lakota friend said, “And like many, many other things that were adopted, this probably came from the Lakota too!”

Whenever I think of putting something aside, I will get a little reminder of what someone thought was so helpful for them. Then when I feel like I have no more to give I get a reminder. I guess I am not done with my work yet.

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First Published by Mindful Mental Health in Medium