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Ebenezer Stone

© Virginia Marin

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

January the first--a time of new beginnings. A time to say farwell to the past and old worn out Father Time. A new day to welcome--with bright and expectant eyes looking to the future. I am very interested in the future because I expect to spend the rest of my life there. In light of this, I want to be reasonably sure of what kind of a future it is going to be, but I also want to remember the past, for it is from the past whence comes a knowledge of lessons learned, a culture's mores, religious beliefs, values and folktales which should be remembered...

Of all tools given the human mind, memory is thought to be one of its most powerful. Memory makes possible the ability to recapture untold past events and emotions, and to recall pain as well as happiness. Memory also serves as an important expression of our human existence.

During the holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas for example, we tap into our memories more than on other occasions. We remember past celebrations and traditions, each with their own distinctions. Spiritual and temporal memories are of equally important reserve bundles. Living in the present with an eye to the future, mankind still possesses an insatiable desire to look into the past--to remember, to perpetuate, to draw upon and to honor. The cultures of Earth meet these needs in a variety of ways. Some methods used are visible to the eye and are observed as charms; amulets; certain artifacts, particular articles of clothing--a brown wool scapular, for example, and books for study and edification to cite only a few. Other methods are invisible, namely prayer and meditation for some, vision quests for others.

A particular artifact in biblical days was known as an Eben-ezer stone, and it is recorded in I Samuel 7:12. Samuel, a judge of Israel, used this special stone, a memory stone, which he called Eben-ezer to commemorate a miraculous victory which God gave the Israelites over the Philistines. Samuel set up the Eben-ezer Stone as a reminder, a memorial, of God's gift of victory:

"Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."

Past. Present. Future. Three units of time of which the human mind is aware. The name Eben-ezer means stone of help, calling to mind the help given of the Lord. It served as a stone of remembrance, looking into the past. It was also a stone of recognition, denoting the present. And for the future, it was a stone of revelation.

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