California Rocks

July 13, p.m. Redwood Trails, Calif. -- Charlie and I went down to the beach this morning. It is not one of your nice sandy beaches. Rather, it is pebbly. At first glance the pebbles are just sand waiting to happen. But on closer inspection, these little rocks are each a magical little gem, polished by the ocean and other rocks. Everywhere I looked I found another intriguing rock to inspect and, in many cases, put in my pocket. I now have a nice little jar of rocks from Stone Lagoon beach, supplemented by a couple I picked up at Yosemite Lakes campground. A young couple I met on the beach who were looking for agates suggested I display them in glass with water. Nice!

Some of the rocks are agates. There were also numerous pieces of quartz. And I’m not positive but I think many of the pieces I picked up are jasper, reds and greens, mostly. Some of the greens look very much like malachite, with the lines running throughout them, but they are a much paler green. I even picked up a couple pieces of granite, round and smooth as if they’d been cut and polished.

Rocks. They’re so “everyday.” You can look at them and not see much that is impressive. But when they are wet, they take on more depth, more color, more brightness. Hence the water in my relish jar of rocks. I picked up one rock that was quartz on one side, I think, but the other side was just dark grey rock. If it had been facing the other way, I would never have even seen it. Wonder how many rocks we pass over because their beautiful side is pressed to the earth, hidden. Wonder how many people we pass over because their beautiful side is hidden away.

Picking up rocks made me think of my dad, who loved to collect rocks wherever he could find them. And it made me think of my brother Mike, who also inherited that rock hound interest, and his wife, Shan. Shan is an artist who finds beautiful rocks, photographs them, with all their interesting lines and colors, and then uses that rock art as the basis for paintings. It sounds weird but I have seen some of her work and it is very interesting and beautiful. She also has a collection of some very beautiful stones and gemstones, polished and unpolished, cut and uncut.

More and more, though, I am realizing that no matter how hard we try to create beauty, our efforts are only the poorest copy of what God has already created. Our work is like that of a child trying to make a play-doh copy of Michelangelo’s David. But that shouldn’t keep us from trying (imitation, they say, is the sincerest form of flattery). Just as knowing how little we can accomplish in other endeavors -- fending hunger, bringing about justice, peace, freedom, etc. -- shouldn’t keep us from trying to make a difference in whatever ways we can.

Seems to me we are all called to do what we can when we can. It might just be giving someone a smile, or thanking someone, telling them how much they mean to us. It could be helping someone who is in a bad spot -- like those Californians who came to my rescue several times this past week. (Including one yesterday who had a socket when I needed one to tighten my rearview/sideview mirror.) It might be asking someone to help us, to sit with us when we need a friend; everyone needs to be wanted. Yes, it makes us vulnerable. People can refuse us, can take our good intentions and turn them into something ugly. But that is their problem, as long as we don’t accept their judgments over our own knowledge of what is true. As long as we can keep turning those rocks over and finding the beautiful sides of life. That’s one of the things I am learning on this trip. There is abundant beauty and goodness out there. We tend to forget about that when we dwell on all the things that are wrong with our country and our world. So take a minute to find beauty in your world. I’m betting that’s all it will take. A minute. Then savor that beauty and send a thank you to the one who blessed you with that gift.

TravelinLady