Today's Gift was a Broken Stone

I am a stone sculptor and so life is frequently revealed to me while I work. I feel so blessed and incredibly grateful that I am able to be in my studio every day and have these wonderful stones surround me and teach me.

Today I was working on a small piece of marble. I have a big show coming up and I was trying to finish this sculpture to have it at the show. I had been able to do some pretty cool things with the stone and was pleased with it, but I didn't have a sense of real communion with the piece. It was becoming more of an exercise--not quite a chore, but not a joy either.

I put my chisel to the stone and gently tapped it. Suddenly I have 2 completely separate stones.

There had been a big fissure running through the marble and that tap hit it just right.

These things happen when you are a stone sculptor. It can be heartbreaking and discouraging if you let it. Today I knew that it was a gift to me. Listening to the SGR program over and over has probably helped. I could hear Jack Canfield's voice saying "That's good". I suspect that I was not really listening to what the stone wanted to be. Since I wasn't listening, it had to show me in the only way it could--it forced me to stop and reevaluate.

Now the 2 pieces are on the shelf. I am not sure what they will become. Probably something better than the original idea. When I next work on them, you can bet I'll be listening to the stones better.

In the meantime, I picked up another piece that I had pretty much thought I wouldn't get done for the show. This piece spoke to me today and the hours flew by. This was a joyful, calm, experience. It reminded me that this is why I am a stone sculptor.

So thank you for broken stones. Sometimes they help us find our bliss! It works this way with people, too. Sometimes we have deep cracks running through us that aren't visible on the outside. By listening, we can help each other to become the masterpieces that we are inside--cracks and all!