To restore is to repair. The promise of restoration is a theme that is intricately weaved throughout the Bible. “I will restore you to health and heal your wounds, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 30:17).
My family and I have been blessed with the wonderful opportunity to do a lot of traveling within this beautiful country of ours. Some of our favorite and most treasured memories are from our explorations of many of the stunning National Parks. The glorious, breathtaking sights on these journeys are impossible to describe in words; and pictures certainly don’t do them the justice they deserve.
One of the “traditions” that I have become particularly fond of as we hike through the parks is the “stacking of rocks”- also known as Cairns. Many people, including myself before some further research, think that the stacking of rocks along hiking trails is a fad or some sort of “hippie phase”. But, in all actuality, the building of Cairns (stacking of rocks) has been a part of the human condition for thousands of years. It is the way in which humans communicated with each other before written language existed. The Cairns were used to warn people of danger, inform others of access to water, and to provide comfort as they plodded their journeys- letting them know they were on the right track, headed in the right direction.
As I think about the stacking of rocks, I am pulled to the connection of Cairns and how they restore us. Rocks are a symbol of strength and stability. I stacked my last rocks, built my last Cairn, in Olympic National Park when the Coronavirus was just taking grip of us and in the beginning stages of shutting down our country. Matt and I had taken a trip to the PNW; and in the midst of our visit, in the blink of an eye, cities closed- Portland, Seattle, Vancouver. It was chillingly quiet. The stillness was not peaceful; it was eerie and frankly quite scary.
But, I remember building my Cairn. I found 6 rocks; two to represent Matt and me and the other four were symbols of our kids. These rocks stacked so neatly, so cooperatively, so securely and so strongly one on top of the other. This gave me comfort. This Cairn was stubborn; it was stable. It refused to fall, refused to crumble, refused to be defeated. While the Worldwide Pandemic has made its very best efforts to break us as a nation, to wear us down, to make us crumble, I feel it has failed. We are still standing; we are still strong; we are stubborn and refuse to stand down. I believe God is using this unprecedented, extremely painful and difficult time to remind us just how strong He is; just how loving, protecting and restorative He can be. In the last 3 months, I have been witness to more compassion, love, kindness, generosity, and human goodwill than I can remember since the tragedy of 9/11.
I wonder why it takes such tragedies for us to pull together? Why don’t we show this kind of love, support, soul shaking stability and strength all of the time? Do you think maybe God is hard at work here? I do. I think He is busy building us back together. Rock after rock; stacking us into a Cairn of strength and stability. He is restoring our health and will heal our wounds if we let Him. God can restore what is broken and change it into something amazing. All you need is faith. (Joel 2:25)
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