Living stones

One of the disciplines I explored in college — I know, for someone as undisciplined as I was, that’s a strange way to put it — but one of the disciplines I explored was geology.

I chose that field for my science credits because, in high school, I always did better with earth sciences than biology … that and because I thought it cool in the ’70s to say that I enjoyed studying rock.

But rocks have always fascinated me.

I love to look at the mica found in Tennessee waterways.

Feldspar, or field rock, adds beauty to any landscape … earthen tones springing through fields of green.

River rock brings a reminder that God’s Creation will still be molding and moving things long after we are gone from this world.

Outcroppings, such as the Blowing Rock in North Carolina and the weather worn and time-chiseled features of Grandfather Mountain, are another fascination for me. Again, they remind me that God's Creation is constantly being molded into things of beauty.

In Peter's first letter we are urged, "Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2:4-5) As "living stones," we are constantly being formed into the likeness of Christ, and are thus being used to build God's Kingdom.

Michael Card weaves it this way in song ("Living Stones"):

“Living stones, living stones

We are holy, living stones

Built upon the firm foundation

That is Jesus

And as we cling to that Rock

Who became a Stumbling Block

We remember we are living stones.”

"Come to him, a living stone ..."

Grace and peace ...