In the end, our lives are memorials to God

Luci Tapahonso, the Navajo author, recorded a poignant account of a Navajo family of long ago. When Luci was just a child, she with her little brothers and sisters were riding in the back of their parents’ pickup on the way to Shiprock. As they rode along, an older relative called their attention to the stack of stones that lay at the foot of one mesa beside the road. Then this relative told the story to Luci and the others.

The story, “Just Past Shiprock,” traces the sad journey of a Native American family of long ago as they traveled on the deserted dirt road between Oak Springs, Ariz., and Shiprock.

The family of three was traveling on horseback and on the long dusty trip, the couple’s baby girl became very sick. The baby worsened with each passing mile. So far away from home, the parents were able to do nothing to stop the rapid deterioration of the little baby’s condition. Finally, they just stopped and walked around with her. After awhile, the child’s erratic breathing ended and seconds later the little baby died. The parents knew they were too far from home so they decided to bury the child. They took their precious little baby, gently wrapped her in a pelt of sheepskin, prayed, and sang a song. The parents stacked rocks over the place where they buried her so the animals wouldn’t bother her. Then the parents started the long journey back home, crying all the way home.

Luci wrote that that stick of stones stood as a memorial to a little baby girl who died on the road to Shiprock. Each time the family would pass that way, the parents would wipe tears from their eyes and say, “Our little baby girl lies there.” They kept her memory alive among their other children. Through the years the account has been kept alive.

Luci wrote that the arrangement of stones represent a lasting and loving tribute to the memory of that child.

Consequently, the child has lived on through the years because of the memories of a loving family and the storytellers who point her memorial out to unknowing strangers. For the descendants of that family and those who know the story, the stack of stones is a prized and cherished memory.

God led the children of Israel across the Jordan River and into the promised land. To make an abiding memorial to their God, representatives took stones, arranging them to form a memorial. The purpose of this monument was to remind their children for years to come that a mighty act of God had carried them unharmed across the Jordan. “In the future when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Tell them… these stones are to be memorial to the people of Israel forever.” (Joshua 4: 6-7). The book of Deuteronomy says that parents should “impress the commandments upon your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-8)

We may receive acclaim, we may own grand houses, we may have the popularity that many seek, and we may live the good life all our days. But in the end, our lives should be lived as memorials in gratitude to God. Then even in death, our influence will live on.

Judy Brandon is an instructor at Clovis Community College. Contact her at:

[email protected]