“To create Maka (Earth) Inyan took so much from himself that he opened his veins, and all his blood flowed from him so that he shrank and became hard and powerless. His blood flowed from him, it became blue waters.  The powers separated themselves from the water and took the form of a great blue dome whose edge is at, but not upon the edge of Maka.”   
Lakota creation myth
Earth and Sky
Williamson and Farrer                          

Time rushes away from Inyan’s gift faster than we can move toward a full understanding of it.  We are immersed in the life Rock gave us, and swept up in its current. Although we are moving away from Inyan, the source of all creation on earth, we are never far from Rock’s remains.  It’s above us on the mountainside and below us under the sea. We walk upon it and its particles pass through us.

The gift of Inyan may have reached its fullness, or, it’s sharing may have only just begun, we don’t know.  It’s certainly no less a gift today than it was when made. We can only hope to know our own place in the greater mystery.  When we handle stone our fingertips abrade and callus both at the same time. By letting stones pass through our hands we receive the gift of Inyan and the understanding that life must be given over but it is never lost.