Ephesians 2:10 “God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing.”
Rocks are unique, rocks are interesting, rocks are cool to look at and for some, rocks are fun to collect. What I find interesting about rocks and what draws me to collect them out of the water’s edge is their designs. The more intricate, the more appealing it becomes. Each line or shape that is different from the rock stands out and catches the eye. Aside from the rocks with designs of all sorts, I like collecting a handful of small rocks called Quartz. They are all white and when hit with water they become clear and almost translucent. Get a bunch of those in your hand and they are pretty, just because of their simplicity.
In Michigan we have a really cool rock, that usually is found on the shores of Lake Michigan, but they have been found on a few other shores too. One of our cities even carried the name of the rock and you can be sure to find many of them there. It is the Petoskey stone. This stone is not like any other and can be easily spotted when searching for them. What makes the rock stand out is, as you can see in the picture for the day, the white obscure circles fanning out with lines and then the circle inside the circles each shares of dark colors.
These rocks are each unique in themselves and are a nice rock to add to any rock collection. When found they are nice, but are like all rocks, with the gray rock look. Some are rough and bumpy, and some are smooth. If you have a rock tumbler or the time to spend rubbing the smoother rocks down, you can end up with a beautifully polished Petoskey stone, shining with each circle standing out distinctively and brightly.
My rock collecting friend and I came up with some illustrations of how the stone works with the Bible and our lives.
Like the stone we all have our unique design that makes us, us. We may be plain and simple and a little rough around the edges, but we are still special. Our individual uniqueness can be found in our talents and we can use those talents in a way no one else can, to serve Jesus. Think about Peter and Paul, they were a little rough around the edges, but God chose to use them in mighty ways to reach His people. They used their gifts of talking to share Jesus. So, in a world full of people, when we choose Jesus and claim to be a Christian and live our lives different from the world, we can easily be spotted. What is unique about you that stands out where others are drawn to you? 1 Peter 4:10 “Each of you has received a gift to use to serve others. Be good servants of God’s various gifts of grace.”
This brings be to my second point. There are those always seeking Jesus and they look for other Christians to help show them the way. We all should be living in a way that those who don’t know Jesus can see Jesus in us. Aside from church, if I were to see you out and about or at your job, could I easily spot you as a Christian? Does your individuality shine through or are you like those around you? Romans 12:1-2 “So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him, which is the spiritual way for you to worship. Do not be shaped by this world; instead be changed within by a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide what God wants for you; you will know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect.”
There is something that happens to us when we choose Jesus and follow Him. Although Petoskey stones are cool in their own rock way, many Petoskey stone collectors want to take the time to polish the stone and make it smooth and shiny. Even if you don’t collect rocks, many will find a polished rock in the gift stores and buy one because they are different and special. We all start out rough and sinful, it is the world we’ve been born into. Over the years we have stumbled and fallen short of God’s glory. Some of us have lived more of this world than in the footsteps of Jesus. Like the stones, we’ve been just rolling through life amongst others. Jesus comes along and picks us up out of this world and through some tumbling and some polishing He makes us shiny and new. He rubs out the sins and rough edges and shines through us helping us become different and special. 1 John 3:5 “You know that Christ came to take away sins and that there is no sin in Christ.”
Lastly, as we are all unique and special, we are also part of Jesus’ family. We may have fallen far from creation, but we still are God’s creation, and He wants us to be a part of His life, He is looking forward to seeing us in Heaven with Him. Sin has separated us from our Father in Heaven, but He will never give up. He sent Jesus to the cross to die for our sins and open the door to salvation. It was His gift to us. Jesus’ death on the cross paid for our sins giving us a chance to have forgiveness when we fall into temptations and have the hope of heaven when we choose Jesus. Like having a Petoskey stone in your home is special, Jesus wants us all in His home with Him because we are special to Him. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “You should know that your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit who is in you. You have received the Holy Spirit from God. So you do not belong to yourselves, because you were bought by God for a price. So honor God with your bodies.”
Let’s all learn from the Petoskey stone today and let our uniqueness shine for Jesus!
A special thanks to Amy Grignon for her love of rock collecting that helped come up with this blog.
If you haven't already please subscribe to our email list on our homepage https://www.connectwithgoddaily.com/ or join any of our media, and please feel free to visit us on Facebook and join our group. https://www.facebook.com/dailyblessingblog/
Also come visit and see what is new in our bookstore. dswells.weebly.com
Don't forget to share with your friends some inspiration today and brighten up their day too.
For those new to our emails, if you would rather receive these via text or on messenger please let me know through my email, dswell123@yahoo.com or our FaceBook page.
Comments