Stone's Fence

A Kentucky drystone masonry fence has no mortar. The artisan places the stones so that their own weight and peculiar shapes hold them together from within. At first sight the stones can seem ill-fitted. Small stones occupy odd spots, loose fill can be seen spilling out. But the stones are placed to shift over time. Weather, oddly shaped stones, shifting ground, incidental damage, rather than undermining the fence, actually compact it together through the years, so that the fence grows even stronger and more beautiful. These fences have stood for over 150 years. Sometimes I feel my own thoughts to be ill-fitted, uncemented, and loose, but I trust under the pressure of the years and the forces of life, they can somehow fit together as well...

About Me

Lawson Stone

I'm 51, married for 27 years, father of 2 college students and a high-schooler, professor of Old Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary. I like guitar, jazz, old-west guns and gear, horses, climbing mountains, and recently, rock climbing in Kentucky's stunning Red River Gorge. I post fiction, opinions, observations, and things that cross my desk, interest, delight, or bother me. I love to bat ideas around with friends, speculate, even dream. Most important in my life is my faith in Christ, my marriage, my children. I also put great value on friendship and have made it one of the core-values of my life to be pursued with deep intentionality. Friendships, like the odd stones, slabs, and packing rock in those mortarless drystone fences, compact together over time to make something strong, enduring, and even beautiful.

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