There’s a shop in Black Mountain that I visit every time I’m there – Mountain Spirit Gifts. It is owned and operated by a delightful woman and her dog, Bella. She sells jewelry (silver pendants and earrings, mostly Celtic in design or amber stone) and cards from unique designers and wall posters and prints. It was at her shop two years ago that I was first introduced to Bone Sign Arts.
Sunday afternoon when I was browsing in her shop, we had a discussion on recognizing when the things we “own” no longer belong to us and honoring that by passing them on to the person they do belong to. Hmmm, that sounds strange – let me try to explain... Two years ago I purchased a small print (one of my first from Bone Sigh Arts) that had a contemporary outline of a woman’s body with her arms raised almost in victory and it said “she didn’t just survive – she became.” (you can see it here) When I saw it the first time it spoke to me so strongly I had to purchase it. It sat on the shelf in my office for about 18 months – then I met a woman. This woman, “Kelly,” shared her story at a women’s retreat and while she spoke I couldn’t get my mind off that print. When we got together again the next week, I gave the print to Kelly. I understood that it no longer belonged to me; it was for her that I had it.
Anyway, our discussion Sunday led us to agree that sometimes we pass things along to others because they were never ours to begin with, and other times we pass them along because we know with a certainty of being that we carry the message with us and no longer need the outward reminder. I will admit that giving things away is sometimes difficult for me – because I often collect “stuff.” Not usually things of importance to anyone but me... But I have found that for me, the message of that print, and others like it which I have passed along, lives more strongly in my memory simply because I have given them away. In the giving, in the making of memory with someone else I have cemented the meaning of the item in my living in a way that simply possessing it was not able to do.
The question is, therefore, are you able to be open to the moments when Spirit nudges you to honor someone else’s journey? To honor their journey by passing along to them those trinkets of life which are not yours to keep – or sharing a word or a card or a note? And, being open to the moments, sensing those nudges of Spirit – are you willing and able to respond? Do you give that gift to them and then tell them why you gave it? Do you sit down and write that note or make that call? I pray the answer, for me and for you, is a resounding YES!
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