When I go for walks by my home, I walk along a creek bed. As I was walking the other day, and a couple times before that, I felt like the Lord gave me a thought.
But first, a short lesson in geology :)
The rocks that stay in the steady stream of the water, become broken down over time. Their edges become smooth, their ridges are less sharp than before. If you look closely, in the heart of the stream, many rocks are totally smooth and mostly round. This process of being broken down and shaped, is called weathering. The erosion and weathering process can look different for every rock based on what kind of rock it is and the energy levels of the water it's in. As rocks encounter other rocks while also being in the force of the stream, abrasion begins to soften its edges. All of the small rocks that you see, were once a part of a larger rock, most likely many miles away upstream from where it is now. These small rocks are broken pieces of the larger ones, that have become dislodged through the erosion process.
After the piece of rock has been dislodged, it starts its turbulent journey downstream, being subjected to more and more outside natural forces. With every contact, the rock is being shaped. It is being chipped away and pieces break off. The sharp edges of a rock are the first to break, because those parts are farther away from the main body, there is less holding them together. So in the turbulent water, wind, and abrasion against other rocks, the edges chip away. As the edges break away, the abrasions are spread more evenly over the rock, creating its smooth and rounded finish.
Super cool right?
As Christians, we go through similar weathering processes. Each encounter that we have with another person, has the ability to shape us, and sometimes that does look like breaking. Which isn't always a bad thing. Each encounter that we have with God, the Living Water, shapes us as well. Jesus spoke of himself as the Living Water, to a woman desperate for more, tired of living life thirsty. When we as Christians spend time with God, in His Word, in His creation, in His Church, we are placing ourselves in this continual flow of the most life-giving stream. We are deciding that we want to be shaped and molded, even if that means breaking. Even if it means abrasions that break down our pride, our bitterness, our past hurts that keep us with sharp edges that try to keep others out.
Rocks that remain in the stream cannot help but be changed and shaped by the flow.
Christians that remain in the overflow and outpouring of God, cannot remain unchanged.
If you look along a stream, there are rocks that don't touch the water, and they remain big and jagged. Because they never or rarely encounter the power of the stream, they remain just as they always were. And there are people just like that. Attending church sometimes, when it's convenient, or rarely encountering God through His written word. Those people remain just as they have always been. Jagged around the edges. At times, I have been that person. Going through the motions, doing what is easy. Not living in the stream but on the edges where I grew calloused and stuck in my ways.
But when we live in the streams of God's love, grace, and mercy, those parts of our story that seem rough and jagged, they encounter others who have had similar things happen to them, and they start to soften. We start to gain empathy for others, and use the rough parts of our stories for the glory of God and the comfort of others. We encounter the Holy Spirit that refines our character and chips away our pride, our fear, our past hurt when we take time to be still before Him, pray, and read the Bible. We become softer, smoother over time. That is what the grace of God is like. A continual refining.
I pray that you have the strength to get in into the Living Water of God. To take that step in faith knowing that it is not always easy, but it is always worth it. Knowing that He is the only one who can change your situation, or show you the good in it when all hope seems lost. Jesus says that He is not only the Living Water, but also the rock, the Firm Foundation on which we can build our lives. God is faithful. You can trust Him in the weathering.
"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
Source: https://rockhoundresource.com/why-river-rocks-are-smooth-the-science-explained/
Comments
Post a Comment