Listening to the Stones
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.” - Rainer Maria Rilke
“Be still, and know that I am God.” - Psalm 46:10
Each morning and evening, I sit overlooking a lake and watch four blue herons who have made their home in our cove. They arrive and depart without ceremony. They move with the stillness of beings who carry old knowledge—not flashy, not loud, but deep and anchoring.
They remind me of a truth I often forget: in a world obsessed with chaos, speed, and noise, there is something holy in becoming the one who listens.
A friend recently sent me a teaching from Native American Culture Regions about the blue heron, and it moved me so deeply I want to share it with you exactly as it was given to me:
“They say the Blue Heron was not born from egg or sky—but carved from river rock by the first hands of the land. He rose when the world needed a listener, not a voice.
By the water’s edge, he speaks with stones—the old ones who remember when the forest was still a whisper. He learns their quiet language, waits through seasons, never rushing answers. The wind forgets, but the stones do not. And so, neither does he.
The elders say he appears when a heart is heavy and silence is needed more than sound. He does not offer comfort. He offers truth—the kind that arrives slow, like dawn through fog.
He walks the shoreline between worlds: land and water, memory and becoming.
He is not a messenger. He is the pause before the message.
And in that stillness, healing begins.
We call him T’łikwaan — He Who Listens to What Is Buried.”
There is a particular kind of strength required to stand in silence at the edge of things.
To wait.
To become still enough to hear what’s buried—within the land, within others, within ourselves.
In a moment when everything is shouting—media, politics, institutions, even our own fear—it can feel counterintuitive to listen more than we speak. But what if listening is the work that heals? What if silence isn’t absence, but attention?
Like the Blue Heron, we are invited to become thresholds—between past and future, grief and wisdom, collapse and becoming, not to rush through them, but to inhabit them with sacred presence.
May we learn to listen the way he does—by rivers, in stillness, with patience, to what is buried but not lost.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
What within you feels buried right now, waiting to be listened to?
Where in your life are you being called to pause before speaking?
What truths are arriving slowly, like “dawn through fog,” that you’ve been tempted to overlook?
A Prayer for the Day
The Blessing of T’łikwaan
Holy One of river and stone, Teach us to be still. To wait long enough for the truth to arrive. To listen—not for answers, but for what is real. In the silence, may we remember. In the stillness, may we become. And in the pause before the message, May we be healed. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Becoming the Shoreline
Today, carve out ten minutes to sit in silence—outside if possible, near water if you can. Let your body become the shoreline between your inner world and the outer one. Don’t try to think or solve.
Simply listen.
Listen to the birds, the wind, your breath. Let the stones speak if they wish. Let the silence say what only silence can say.
Over time, this practice may become a way of returning to the sacred—without needing words, without needing to fix, just a deepening attunement to what is already true.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
SOLD OUT!!! July 20-25, 2025 - The Art of Wilding: A 5-Day Expedition in Wyoming for Women Leaders. Click here to learn more in case you want to come next year!
August 11, 2025, 2pm ET - Dr. Andrew Root and I will be hosting a 6 part series on Spirituality in the Secular Age based on his research. The dates are August 11, 18, September 8, 15, and October 6, 13. Mark your calendars! More on this soon.
September 4, 4:30pm ET - I will be collaborating with the Anderson Forum for Progressive Theology to host a conversation with Thomas Jay Oord on Open and Relational theology. It’s a FREE event. Register here.
October 15-18, 2025 - Converging 2025: Sing Truth Conference (all musicians invited!) at Northwest Christian Church in Columbus, OH. Register here!
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Can you please share who is the artist for this heron picture? Thank you.
Beautiful reflection - we have a blue heron who visits the river edge in front of us - I will see him now with deeper eyes - thank you.