Rocks are all around us.  We don’t notice rocks much, but they’re pretty important to us.  In fact, we live on a giant round rock (with a hot, melted rock center) spinning through space. 

Rock breaks down into tiny chunks to create the soil that grows plants for food for us and the animals, and grows trees that provide oxygen for us to breathe.  From the rocks, the plants absorb minerals that are essential for our health…. which means there’s always a little bit of rock inside you and me. 

Rocks can be an powerful irritant – ever get sand in your eye?  Or a teeny, tiny chip of rock inside your shoe – that feels like a jagged boulder?  Or find a big boulder smack dab in the middle of where you’d like to build something?  Wash it out, take it out, move it if you can, but sometimes you’ve just got to go around it!

Rocks are handy metaphors and symbols for that which is solid, long-lasting, immovable…  An obstacle can be a boulder in your path.  Trucks are built solid “like a rock.”  You can “get a piece of the rock” if you want financial assurance.  Our principles can be “rock solid,” we can be “pillars of the community,” and our firm foundation can be built on bedrock.  If it’s as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar, it will serve as a guidepost and be there for a long time.

Even solid rock is worn away by time, weather, water, and persistence.  The multi-colored glory of the Grand Canyon is the result of the persistence of the Colorado River, carving the rock away with water and the abrasive sand it carries.  The river reminds us of the power of persistent effort over time.

Rocks are also for remembrance.  We carve names and dates on tombstones for those who have gone on, grabbing a bit of immortality recorded in granite.  We use gold and diamonds to create wedding bands to remember our commitment to love.  We may carry a smooth “worry stone” in our pocket to remind us to calm down and get centered.

Last week our daughter Katie cleaned out her pencil case in preparation for the new school year, and the most treasured item in it was a rock.  “The rock stays!” she said emphatically, for it was a piece of tumbled rose quartz given to her two years ago by her teacher who was about to leave teaching.   “Lisa gave it to me to remember her by.”

If I were a rock, I’d like to be a chunk of smooth, pink quartz carried in a child’s pencil box. 

I’d like to be a reminder that I was important in a child’s life, that I was someone she could count on to be there and to learn from, someone she enjoyed remembering with affection and respect.  I’d like to remind her of the fun we’d had, and how she could feel my love and acceptance.  I’d like to help her remember that we are always in each other’s hearts, no matter how long our time together was.

We each have opportunities to be a rock for someone else.  We can be important for someone else.  We can be someone solid that they feel they can count on, that will always be there for them.  We can have solid principles that we model in our lives for others to learn from.  We can treat people in ways that make them want to remember us. 

Be a rock!

P.S.  If you want an opportunity to be a rock for a child, become a Sunday school teacher!

The Red Rock