River Rock Wisdom

Those beautifully smooth river rocks, took years to become that way.

On a recent hike in the mountains, my son discovered a pile of river rocks stacked up on a boulder. It was very unexpected, in the midst of all of the wilderness and nature at its best. But, there it was. Clearly, man and nature had intersected.

I love rocks. I love that they often tell a story with their layers. I love that some of them catch the light. I love that some of them have beautiful colors. They represent history for me. When I hold one, I am in awe of the hundreds of years that it took to form it.

I am particularly fond of river rocks. They tend to be perfectly round and smooth to the touch and I enjoy picking them up out of the water and holding them in my hand. They remind me of being in process.

River rocks are beautifully smooth because they have been shaped by water rushing over them for years and years. All of the sharp edges have been slowly worn away over time. What is eventually left behind is a perfectly formed, round rock.

River rocks remind me of our human struggle. Most of us have all types of sharp edges and when life gets hard and pours over us, we can stand tall and grow bitter. We can hold onto anger, pain and resentment and our edges can grow even sharper.

But, there is another way. We can bend. When life gets hard and it always does, when tragedy strikes, and it sometimes will, we can get on our knees and raise our hands to heaven. We can pray for peace. We can pray for strength. We can lean into Jesus and let amazing grace wash over us like a river washing over those rocks.

And as time goes by and our faith grows, we can lose those edges as we let go of all of those things we were never meant to carry in the first place. Our hearts can become smooth and beautiful like those river rocks. We can become a sight to behold and something that draws others to us, just like those stacked rocks my son found.

But, we have to remember that the process takes time. As long as we are on this side of heaven, we are in progress. We have a choice to make. We can allow life’s circumstances to make us sharp and hurtful to those around us or we can choose to allow God to use those to mold us into something different, something better, something unique and beautiful.

We always have a choice. Faith, is a choice.

Some river rocks reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂