As I gaze out the kitchen window and fix my eyes on a beautiful Japanese blueberry tree in the distance, I feel summer’s end nearby. I don’t know about you, but my heart is eagerly anticipating the change of season, bringing with it cooler temps and lively conversations around a circular fire pit out back. Over the course of 8 weeks this summer, I had the unique opportunity to witness the incredible transformation of our back yard by a team of hard-working landscapers and talented masons. Not only did they endure sweltering hours of oppressive desert heat removing overgrown Mesquite and African Sumac trees, they skillfully and artfully arranged combinations of decorative flagstone into functional architectural features to be enjoyed by friends and family this fall.
The unanticipated gift from this experience was contemplating the importance of cornerstones and how their selection and level placement during the construction process affects the overall design and stability.
What is a Cornerstone?
Webster’s Dictionary defines a cornerstone as: (noun) a basic element : foundation. Digging a little further, ( yes, I admit freely I have a bit of an uncanny obsession with language and vocabulary) I found this definition and enjoyed the depth of explanation:
cornerstone – the fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or developed or calculated or explained; “the whole argument rested on a basis of conjecture” . Synonyms: fundament, groundwork, basis, foundation, base.
It’s as though I had discovered this word, cornerstone, for the very first time. It is likely I have uttered it without fully understanding or assimilating its meaning. Sometimes it takes an experience to bring a word to light in our lives, and I just love the illuminating feeling that rises up within when that happens.
Who or What is Your Cornerstone?
Cornerstones are used ceremoniously to commemorate people or moments in time we would rather not forget. They represent firm foundations and solid ground. The level, the steady, the shaping element, the framework, and the fundamental, whose underlying base of support is perhaps taken inadvertently for granted.
What comes up for you when you think about the word cornerstone? Is it a particular person or value? Faith or spirituality? In what are you placing your hope, your joy, and your trust? Who is your cornerstone? Who is your rock, keeping you on solid ground, providing for you a firm foundation on which to build your hopes and dreams?
Take a moment to think about these cornerstones and appreciate them. Allow your heart to swell with gladness and overflow into all you do, think, and say.
“Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.”
– Wayne Dyer
What do you truly LOVE in this life? What are you certain brings you joy, happiness, and a reason to get up and begin a fresh, new day? What is that ONE thing that you just can’t bear to live without? Are you feeling it? Living it? Doing it? If the answer is not a resounding YES, ask yourself why?
Jennifer Miller is a Las Vegas-based freelance writer, speaker, and marketing consultant. She works as a Community Partner volunteer for global nonprofit BeadforLife, whose mission is to provide entrepreneurial training to 1 million women globally by 2027. Click here for a listing of upcoming events, or Follow her on instagram or Facebook @standinlovejen . To host your own BeadforLife marketplace or essential oil party this fall, email deboughjl@gmail.com
Stand In Love 