I would say, that ever since I was little, my communication with God has been interesting. Even before I made the decision to become a Christian, I remember a feeling or voice reinforcing certain truths. For example, I remember going into my uncle's office on several different occasions and seeing him spending time reading and studying the Bible. Even though I didn't see many people read the Bible daily, I felt God's affirmation when I came across someone doing it. Similarly, I remember the feeling deep in my gut when my neighbors adopted a baby from Peru. I am not sure how old I was, but I remember God giving me the desire to adopt, and affirming that adoption is good. My communication with God, sometimes comes from reading the Bible, prayer, talking to people, etc. But while I was in Tennessee, God used some of the nature around me to remind me of a few things that I could pass on the the boys.
Saturday night, after nap time, dinner, and ice cream, Chris and I took the boys to mine for rocks. I thought they would LOVE this. I mean, who wouldn't love pouring sand/rocks into a bin and sticking it in water to reveal your new found treasure? Well....they weren't too impressed. Chris ended up doing the majority of the work. After mining for the rocks, you could take them inside and have someone classify what you found. I wanted to do this, so we all went inside the store. Inside the store there were all the rocks you could imagine. Anything you could think of, was for sale. They had cut and polished loads of rocks to resemble frogs and turtles etc. You could also pick our your favorite rocks and buy them individually. Although the boys didn't like getting their hands dirty finding their own rocks, they enjoyed the rock store very much. I had a BLAST walking around the store and getting Mattox's impression on all the different rocks. Some of them were green, his favorite color. Some were white and "looked like ice." As we were observing the different rocks, I said to Mattox, "isn't it cool that there are so many different shapes and colors? These rocks are like people. We all come in different shapes and sizes. Just because a rock is big, doesn't mean it is better. Just because a rock has swirls, doesn't mean that it is prettier. I mean, how boring would this store be if ever rock were the same shape and color?" Not only is that an important lesson to teach the boys, but I needed a reminder myself.
Sometimes I think I make the mistake of spending too much time focused on the negative parts of my personality and appearance, and not enough time being confident in the fact that growing in Christ is a process...and that appearance shouldn't be a huge concern as long as I am focused on being healthy. I sometimes get down because I seem to struggle with different things than my friends...I seem to be different in areas where I wish I were the same. I'm sure we all have struggled with that at some point in our lives. I am happy that God used rocks...to remind me of Psalm 139:14 "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." and 1 Samuel 16:7
''Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." Such a great reminder, in such an unexpected time and place.
