Have you ever had an epiphany? I have had many but the one that began this journey of the stones of life speaking, began in April of 2017. My wife and I had gone to the US to attend our son’s graduation from college. My parents, through out their marriage, have had a time of devotions every morning. They usually would read one or two devotionals and then would read a chapter in the Bible. The concept for this blog came from the daly devotional called The Lord is Near by Believers Bookshelf Canada Inc. It referenced Ecclesiastics 3:1 and also referenced the first phrase in verse five.
Ecclesiastes 3:5(a)
a time to cast away stones,                                             and a time to gather stones together; (ESV)
We miss the context of this living in the western world. The devotional explained that those stones that were cast away were nuisance stones when they wanted to plant crops in their fields. Those same stones that were cast away were picked up and used to make their houses. The epiphany I had was that my life and your life are just like this statement using the metaphor of the stone.
Going through life, there are experiences we go through, good or bad, and through those experiences there are lessons learned. Desiring to have a good field that is fertile and ready to produce good crops we need to go through and throw out some of those bad “stones” in our lives. I know that there is a stone that I have that I am working on throwing out and that is the stone of pride. There is also selfishness along with others. Do you have the stones in your life that you need to trow out? Maybe you are deceitful or carry around the stone of envy. You know the envy of that new car, a nicer house, or the life that you see someone else living. Maybe it is pride or selfishness like me. We all have stones in our lives. Through the seasons of life, there are different “stones” we need to work on. As they are worked on and if they need to be thrown out, it is helpful to understand that there is a better life. that better life is one that is pursuing God and His purposes for our life.
To do that, the second part of the first phrase in verse five states that there is “a time to gather stones together.” We have some old homes and many walls that are built from stone here in Nassau. When I think about people building those houses and walls, I see them going to that pile of stones, looking at the stones and picking up one that will fit in with the next one. I see them picking a stone up and looking at it, rolling it around in their hand and examining it. Just like a puzzle one stone has to fit the next. If it doesn’t they will throw it onto a different pile. Those that they can fit together they use and build their masterpiece.
As in life, we have those things that we need to examine. Roll them around in our minds and figure out what to do with them. Do they fit into God’s design and are they useful to build the master piece that God would have me build or are they useless and need to be discarded. I pray that through this blog people will be challenged to pick up those “stones” of life and roll them around in their minds, examine them and see if they are useful. Are they helpful, encouraging and useful? Will the stones of life be able to help you build a life that is a masterpiece?
My desire is to weekly challenge you through this blog. I do not have all the answers but I trust this can be a spark to ignite a life that is built on the solid foundation of the word of God. I hope it challenges you and encourage you to let the stones of life speak.