{"id":227,"date":"2010-01-07T16:31:53","date_gmt":"2010-01-07T16:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/flirtingwithfaith\/2010\/01\/win-a-copy-of-ll-barkats-stone-crossings-finding-grace-in-hard-and-hidden-places.html"},"modified":"2010-01-07T16:31:53","modified_gmt":"2010-01-07T16:31:53","slug":"win-a-copy-of-ll-barkats-stone-crossings-finding-grace-in-hard-and-hidden-places","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flirtingwithfaith\/2010\/01\/win-a-copy-of-ll-barkats-stone-crossings-finding-grace-in-hard-and-hidden-places.html","title":{"rendered":"Win a Copy of L.L. Barkat’s Stone Crossings: Finding Grace in Hard and Hidden Places!"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

This is the first of four reflections on L.L. Barkat’s<\/a> fantastic book <\/b>Stone Crossings: Finding Grace in Hard and Hidden Places<\/b><\/a> that will run here daily until Sunday, January 10. Comment on each of the four posts between now and 6:00 p.m. Sunday and your name will be included in a random drawing to win a copy. Free books: Not a bad way to kick off 2010!<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

CROSSING SOME STONES: A REFLECTION<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

by Glynn Young <\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First stone crossed:<\/b> It was in the hospital that I first met L.L. Barkat’s Stone Crossings.<\/b> I had
\ncrashed on my bike three days before, and it took that long to figure out that
\nsomething was very wrong. As my wife rushed me out the door to the emergency
\nroom, I grabbed Stone Crossings, figuring I would need something to do while we
\nwaited. I was wrong; we didn’t wait. They did x-rays immediately and then
\npronounced, like a medical benediction, three broken ribs, a fractured fourth
\nrib, and a partially collapsed lung. With an oxygen tube up my nose and an IV
\ndrip for pain meds in my hand, I finally got to a room about 11:30. An hour
\nlater, I started reading, and didn’t stop until I was finished, sometime near 4
\na.m.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Second stone crossed:<\/b> The writer in me loved the book’s
\nstructure, each chapter like a stone, or two stones, really – a stone of
\nremembrance and a stone to cross. Some of the remembrance-stones were painful,
\nand some of the stones to cross were scary. Each stone had a simple name, like
\nlove, forgiveness, fear, gratitude and justice. The writing, ah, the writing:
\nextraordinary.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Third stone crossed: <\/b>It’s easy to see Stone Crossings as a
\nkind of meditative memoir. And it is that. But about a third of the way into
\nthe book, I realized that something profound was happening, something very
\npowerful for a reader. The stories were becoming my stories; the stones were
\nbecoming my stones to cross.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Fourth stone crossed:<\/b> As each stone became more and more my
\nown, the pain behind the author’s remembrances became my own, and I started
\nturning my own stones over. There it all was – the pain, the hurt, the
\nugliness. And much of it was my own, of my own doing. None of the book’s
\npromotional statements prepared me for this.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Fifth stone crossed:<\/b> So many things go back to my father. He
\ndied more than 20 years ago, and quickly, from a massive stroke, which for him
\nwas a blessing. He would have hated any kind of disability, and in the worst way.
\nBut he left behind some heavy stones – he hadn’t spoken to my older brother in
\nmore than two years; he had just gotten mad at me for some reason still unknown
\nearlier that week he died; so many unresolved issues with my mother; and a
\nbusiness that was a mess, an accounting nightmare. And I was the executor of
\nhis will. Grief, sorrow, anger – it was all bottled up while I helped my mother
\nthrough all the legal morass. Two years later, I broke down and cried in my
\nwife’s arms. More than 20 years later, as I picked up this stone in the
\nhospital, I forgave him. And me.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Sixth stone crossed:<\/b> And then with the pain of each stone
\ncame the gratitude. Someone had already turned my stones over, found the
\nugliness and cleaned it up. All of it. Instead of hiding ugliness and weighing
\nme down with guilt and regrets, the stones had become steps forward, ways to
\ncross the stream.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Seventh stone crossing: <\/b>I read Stone Crossings in late July.
\nNow I go back and reread the stones. And the gratitude grows.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
GLYNN YOUNG<\/dt>\n
Professional writer exploring faith and culture, life and work; happily married to Janet, the love of my life; father of two grown sons. Award-winning speechwriter and communication consultant.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the first of four reflections on L.L. Barkat’s fantastic book Stone Crossings: Finding Grace in Hard and Hidden Places that will run here daily until Sunday, January 10. Comment on each of the four posts between now and 6:00 p.m. Sunday and your name will be included in a random drawing to win a copy.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spiritual-growth"],"yoast_head":"\nWin a Copy of L.L. 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