Previously posted February 4, 2020 — We’ve had Steven Purcell’s Even Among These Rocks in our library for at least 15 years. Every time we read it we glean something different from this book that is a spiritual journey through Lent. The official description of the book is “In this rich melange of art, literature, music and personal reflection in hand calligraphy by the author a path travels deep within the soul and illuminated the staggering depths of God’s love.” The uathor weaves spiritual insights with artistic expression. This includes art from history, poetry

We recently opened this book to find a page about responding to Lent’s invitation speaking to our soul. The author shares that the precariousness of recalling Jesus’s last days on earth in conjunction with our Lenten journey is described in lines from T.S. Eliot’s poem “Ash Wednesday.”

Teach us to care and not to care

Teach us to sit still

Even among these rocks

Our peace in His will.

So a stole was born in our mind and it was created out of a medley of purple fabrics. The appliquéd symbols are created out of luscious ombre fabrics to give the images depth, and it is enhanced with a bit of hand embroidery. The stole is on the Carrot Top Studio website here.

Don’t need a stole for the season of Lent? You still might want to check out the book! It is out of print but Amazon has some used copies available or maybe you’ll find it in your local library. Oh hey — did we mention the forward is by Eugene Peterson? In our world, that’s affirmation of the contents!