When Rocks Talk!

When I was remodeling my home a few years ago, I decided to upgrade to all granite counters. To choose the right look, I went to visit a stone outlet and walked through a yard full of huge granite slabs resting on their sides so the polished face could be seen and admired. I must admit it was mind boggling and educational to see so much variety and incredible beauty of each individual pattern from the stones come to light. And then to realize where it came from and how it looked before the stone-cutters and polishers took their skill to it – just wow!

In the showroom there were some huge back-lit frames holding very thin slices of some of the most gorgeous abstract art I had ever seen – all from the stones themselves! Triple wow!

This morning as I brushed my teeth and got ready for the day, in an attitude of gratitude I looked around and saw the beauty in the granite that I got to enjoy everyday in my home. It was then the verse came to mind: “Even the rocks cry out…” to bring honor and glory to God and testify of his greatness. (See Luke 19:40, best to read a few verses before it to understand the context – that even if his disciples weren’t able to speak about God’s truth, that the stones would cry out to testify.)

For your enjoyment, I’ve shared a photo example to the left of the amazing patterns that can show up, along with another one below showing the great variety and depth of patterns hidden just below the surface. If you click on either of them, they should show up larger in a separate page.

What a great metaphor for our own lives! The beauty of granite, quartz & other stones has to be cut open to be seen. On the exterior, they look like nothing. Just big hunks of stone on the side of a hill somewhere. All their lifetime they can be buried, walked on, hidden under dirt, not valued for their true beauty, as it has not yet been exposed. We think they are strong and solid. When cut open, sliced through, and polished by expert craftsmen, great beauty is exposed that can be breath-taking and cause you to admire more the hand and heart of our great Creator!

Who could think of so much beauty – and make it for our enjoyment while on earth, a temporal place? How much more so must the beauty of heaven – and the New Heaven he is building – be even more breathtaking to behold? And so vast and so much more amazing that it will take us the rest of eternity (a pretty long time!) to explore and delight in! Not just the rocks, but everything he made from the tiniest atom and creatures to the farthest reaches of space. Even the way the galaxies look from our point of view. If you’ve ever seen the Milky Way on a clear night in the right place, it can be incredible to view – and even more mind-blowing to try to fathom how God could have put all this together for us.

When I go back to praising God face to face for his beauty and creation, he reminds me that I too am one of his createds. I too have great beauty hidden inside me that he has put there. Even when the dirt of life is pressed down upon me and I don’t feel valued, he knows the treasure inside me as his creation. When I let his beauty in me shine, especially in dark places, where it shows up in stark contrast, then all must see the glory of God and say “Wow!” at the work he has done! Our beauty from him, exposed, causes glory and honor to shine on our Creator.

Take time to look around you today, to thank and worship him for ALL of his creation. Thank him for YOU and the beauty inside of you that he is bringing forth, from glory to glory – one experience after another – where we all have the opportunity to choose God’s path and principles to shine out instead of our own small-minded ways. To God be the glory! Amen!