Reprimanded

I write and enjoy it. Sometimes you respond which says I connected and that pleases me. Last week I was jerked up short which gave me pause. ” I thought you were going to tell about the painted rocks.” Rocks can have different takes and obviously I missed what that person was expecting. A geologist can collect and know the various minerals they represent. An ad man made over a million dollars in the 70’s selling Pet Rocks: no food, no care, just uniquely yours. Some of us may find an unusual color or shape and put it on display just for our pleasure. I’ve been drawn into rocks being a vehicle for words and pictures.

Contacts start in a small way. A sale bin in Walgreens had rocks with messages. One with BELIEVE was worth $.50 and found a home by my front door. Then a rock painted with the open jaws of shark appeared on the table of the Little Free Library. Children noticed and played with it, yet no one took it off. One day, I saw a woman going through the books. She was from Mission, brought a husband for MDA treatments, collected books for her granddaughter and was leaving rocks she painted as payment. All had a river motif.

Something caught on. I didn’t see it happen: however, new rocks were added. Some had rainbows or singing birds. Most interesting was one with a cracked edge. It was decorated like an M & M cookie with a bite taken out of it. One day I saw a family of three boys and a mother. They had brought their own colors and were stopping for an art moment. Two weeks ago they left a carryall of supplies for others to create as and when they wished. Rocks had become a THING. For Christmas I was given a two piece green rock. When it was separated, one inner side had a brown pit. I was told the name was Angie the Avocado. Now it is a topic of conversation on a living room table.

Rocks and stones are from the foundation of the earth and are themselves foundations. They are the identifying structure of buildings and walls. Cairns are created as memorials or as trail markers. When the Israelites crossed the parted waters of the Jordan to enter the Promised Land, they were to bring twelve stones as a reminder to ask the question, “What do these stones mean?” My memory stones are a balanced group in the back yard that remind me of a journey from Rice Boulevard to Swift with its painted rocks created by children and a green avocado that evokes smiles.

Thus far the Lord has helped us.

1 Samuel 7:12