There are places that stay with you.
The log cabin meeting house where I spent countless hours at 4-H and other community meetings during my growing up years.
The church where my grandparents did and now my parents and sister do attend.
The farm fields around my childhood home.
These things are symbols of places, events, and especially people that have marked my life.
Other people’s lives have been marked by God in different ways.
“Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel [“House of God.”]” (from Genesis 28:10-19 NIV)
Jacob was so marked by this experience that he set up an altar of worship to the Lord, commemorating that place where God had given him this vision and these promises.
Where have you seen and heard God? Where – and who – has marked your life?
God,
We thank you for the people, places, and events that mark our lives and especially those who you use to mark us for you. Make us mindful of your presence and Spirit upon and around us so we recognize you. And help us to mark others with your love, peace, joy, and grace. In Christ’s name, Amen.