The Talking Rock

I have  a rock in my pocket.  It's a jagged piece of gravel.   There's nothing interesting or significant about it's appearance.  This rock, however, though it is a very simple piece of the road, has been speaking to me all day!  

It said it's first words to me when my 4 year old "Life of God" picked it up out of the parking lot and said "LOOK, Mommy!  I have a present for you.  Do you like it??"

The rock said   "It's not the quality of the gift she's giving you.  It's the fact that her heart wanted to give you something."

I asked her to hold it for me so I wouldn't lose it- and she tucked it away in her 'toy box' compartment beside her seat in the van- directly beside the other rock she had chosen from the ground.

We later met up with my husband for dinner.  "Daddy!"  Zoe put both rocks in her pocket, and when we went into the restaurant to wait on Daddy, she told me that she was going to give a rock to him.
 "Wait?" I said. "I though one of those rocks were for me...." and I pretended to be slightly concerned.  "Oh it is, Mommy.  But one is for Daddy, too.  I'm going to let him pick one!!"  

And the rock told me again "It's not which GIFT you get- it's that you were chosen to get one in the first place."

After "Daddy" sat down with us, he picked his rock.  And I was handed mine.  I put it in my pocket, and I forgot about it.  We parted ways from "Daddy" and I had a bit of solo time to run an errand.  The rock remained in my pocket.  Each time I put my hand inside my pocket- in a effort to figure out what it was that was weighing down my jeans- I was reminded of how sweet- and how innocent my children are.  An adult would never pick up a random stone from the ground and say "Here!! I want you to have this!"  But a 4 year old won't question it.  A 4 year old will have a desire to 'give' and find something- anything- to pick up and GIVE.   My 4 year old just happened to have access to a road full of rocks.

On my way home- I felt the weight of the rock in my pocket, still.  My heart got heavy.  I had a flood of thoughts swarm through my mind.  One- in particular wouldn't leave me alone.  The thought of The Prostitute- caught in the act of her sin- who was brought before the crowd so that she could be stoned (to death).
We've all heard the story.  Jesus was there.  He said nothing for quite some time.  He was still.  The crowd questioned Him as He wrote in the sand.  And then He spoke.   "HE who is with out sin should cast the first stone."  All of the stones fell to the ground and Jesus said to the harlot  "Go.  And sin no more."  And she went.....

And the rock in my pocket said to me "You can throw me .....  But I'd rather stay in your pocket."

And here I sit.  With a rock.  In my pocket.  I think I'm going to listen to My Rock.

I'm going to try to:

• Look further, and deeper into the heart of my children.  
• Accept the (spiritual) gifts that have been given to me- whether they are of use to me right now or not-without complaint or heartache. 
• Judge not.... even if the crowd is pushing for full penalty.  (I'm going to keep the stone in my pocket!)