Rocks

Matt has an affinity for rocks that I don't always quite understand. He finds them wherever we go. They almost seem to seek him out. For him, rocks often have a specific significance . To me, rocks are rocks. Sometimes are they pretty, they make a nice seat, once in a while I take the nice ones home but then I don't quite to know what to do with them and they end up gathering dust.

Since we have moved here, however, I have been a lot more aware of the rocks around me. There are so many more large chunks of beautiful rocks in the woods here. Quartz and granite, pyrite and marble abound (must be why the curbs in town are made of granite:) The milky white and pearly pinks of quartz and sparkle sheen of pyrite are especially noticeable in the streams and ponds.

I love how water can bring a whole new life to rocks. On dry land, a group of small stones seem ordinary, drab, even ugly. Submerge them in water and colors, hues, and textures emerge that where previously hidden.

Playing at the pond at camp with Abigail the other day I realized how much we are like these stones. Dull, muted, hidden, and forgotten on many days. Stepped on by many, unnoticed or scorned by the world. Until we are surrounded by the rushing, babbling, leaping living water that Christ promised the woman at the well in Samaria (John 4). When we are touched by this water, a new person is revealed, a beauty is discovered. The most mundane of us becomes dazzling. Our uniqueness is brought forth and people cannot get enough of us. Not because we alone are so wonderful but because we have been transformed into something surprising by a power greater than ourselves. The living water Christ describes in John 4 isn't some kind of cheap fix that makes appear better than we are. No, he talks about himself as being able to reveal our true identity and satisfy our all our longings.

I took some before and after water pictures of some rocks at the pond to remind me of the difference God's presence can make not only in my home or devotional life but in how others view me as well. When we are well steeped in the Lord, every aspect of us is transformed to others as well and people are drawn. I need to be reminded what an important impact my life can make to other people simply by living daily in God's promises.