Markings

Open any photo album in my grandfather's house and he can tell you the exact year the photo was taken based on the car he was driving at the time (whether or not the vehicle is actually in the photograph). My photo album, on the other hand is marked by hairstyles; I've had so many that my best friend says that it looks like I've been a part of the witness protection program.

It started in high school when I was dumped by my first real boyfriend; I was devastated and responded by chopping off my long mane of hair. Ever since, the urge to mark life change with a physical change is overwhelming. I've wanted to mark the change from woman to mommy but have put it off until this weekend when I began to see a light at the end of the postpartum depression tunnel and chopped 8 inches off my hair. My husband has since revived and I've discovered 45 extra minutes in the morning that could be much better spent in a number of ways.

I can think of a number of instances in the Bible when important events were marked by physical reminders: a rainbow, an altar, a pile of stones, two tablets, and even a cross. What marks the pathway of your spiritual journey?

So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever."
Joshua 4:4-7

Your thoughts?