Do you throw them, hold them, build with them, hide behind them, or walk over them? They come in all shapes and sizes. They can be smooth and beautiful, almost refined. They can be sharp and painful. They can be as big as many homes, stopping everything that comes in contact with them or they can be as tiny as sand and go completely unnoticed. They are used in everything from jewelry to weapons. Beauty and fear are evoked at the sight of them. It is difficult to believe all of these traits could be associated with something as simple as a rock.
Rocks are important in our lives. Rocks create borders that provide safety from danger. Rocks hold up major forces from destroying. They are used in the building of magnificent structures. They are also used to throw at others with the intent to harm or destroy.
There are many rocks we find in our lives. There are endless opportunities of what we do with what we have been given. What will we do with the rocks in our lives? Will we trip over them and allow them to slow us down? Will we pick them up to hurl at our enemies? Will we begin to collect them to build a wall to keep others out? Or will you come together as a community to use what we have been given to build something loving, welcoming, and beautiful – something useful and full of life – something that reminds others that we have come this far and God has been with us – something that tells others that God does not forsake us – something that is a reminder that we are loved by the Creator of those rocks?
May we build each other rather than tear each other down…may we love rather than hate…may we come together rather than divide…may we gather rather than scatter…and may it begin with me.
Focus Scripture
Genesis 31:45-49
45 So Jacob took a stone, and set it up as a pillar. 46 And Jacob said to his kinsfolk, “Gather stones,” and they took stones, and made a heap; and they ate there by the heap. 47 Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha:[Aramaic for the heap of witness] but Jacob called it Galeed.[Hebrew for the heap of witness] 48 Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he called it Galeed, 49 and the pillar Mizpah,[the watchpost] for he said, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are absent one from the other.
Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery. Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery
SEEING THE EXTRAORDINARY 