Stones...God writes parables through lives...and people...and sometimes the sacred is just that...sacred...

Stones

Theology in the Trenches

by Kathleen Kjolhaug

It was mid morning. My students were eager to read the story, and as we began to read “Sarah Plain and Tall,” it held their imaginations captive. Especially tender was the part where she reveals a gift she’d chosen to give the children she’d come to meet.

It was a “sea stone,” according to the story. Sarah had moved away from her beloved sea and was now going to live life on the prairie. She’d chosen this particular gift because it was a part of something that meant the world to her, and as their new mama to be, she was hoping the children would love it too.

“The sea washes over and over and around the stone, rolling it until it is round and perfect,” Sarah explained.

“I wish everything was as perfect as the stone.” The little girl who spoke had already lost one mama, and now Sarah’s outreach was met with the inner thoughts of the brokenness the little one was feeling.

Perfect? I reflected. It wouldn’t be perfect if it were needed for climbing. The jagged edges become safety as one claws their way to the top or grips the rocks with their gear in order to secure themselves for the next move, be it up or down. It wouldn’t be perfect if you wanted to skip it across a pond. For that, one needs flat and smooth, not round and smooth. No, different stones are deemed perfect only according to what they will be used for.

Then again, I suppose if one would need a round smooth stone for something, the edges would need to be rubbed off. In order for it to be considered perfect, like the one in the story, then it must have taken quite a beating for it to become that way. It must have been tossed and turned. It must have been pummeled with salt water over and over and over again. It must have traveled for miles reaching heights and depths before washing ashore.

Once it landed upon the sand, Sarah’s hands had picked it up and traveled across the country from the sea to the prairie in order to gently set it in the hands of a little one who was awaiting just such a gift. Not only was she awaiting the gift, but it spoke to her heart. It created connection between two souls in this world, the gift giver and the gift receiver.

Who would have thought? Who would have thought that as the little stone drifted in this world, literally across oceans, that it would have landed on the prairie for “such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).  Who would have thought?

Who? I suppose we should have thought. We should come to expect the unexpected and the awe of “Thy Kingdom Come” (Matthew 6:10).

To shed further light, 1 Peter 2:6 and 9 says, “For Scripture has it: ‘See, I am laying a cornerstone in Zion, an approved stone, and precious. He who puts his faith in it shall not be shaken.’ The stone is of value for you who have faith.  You are ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people he claims for his own to proclaim the glorious words; of the One who called you from darkness into his marvelous light.’”

1 Peter 2:4 invites.  “Come to him, a living stone, rejected by men but approved nonetheless and precious in God’s eyes. You too are living stones.” Come.  Amen.