I love stones.  I always have.  I love when they are smooth and warm and fit right into the palm of your hand.  Recently, while we were up in northern Michigan, we hiked over a mile to a remote beach to go swimming.  It was beautiful and we started collecting fabulous stones from in the water.  My kids each created huge piles and we had a fantastic time. 

When it was time to leave, my son put dozens of rocks into a blanket, wrapped them up and started carrying them home.  As he was coming down the second dune, the blanket fell and stones flew all over.  We helped him pick them up and started again.  As we continued to hike the mile back to the car, he fell behind and as I looked for him I saw that he had left most of stones in the sand and was carrying just two large stones, one in each hand.  By the time we got back to the car, he only had one large stone left from the dozens he had started with.  It had just been too much for him to carry all those stones all that way. 

As I reflected on this, I felt like God showed me how this was a picture of how I have been living lately.  I have been feeling overwhelmed by the many “stones” I feel responsible for in my life.  There are just too many, and I feel like I can not carry them all.   I felt like He was telling me it was time to drop some stones.

 

HOW TO DROP SOME STONES

I took some time and wrote down each “stone,” or responsibility that I felt like I was carrying, on a note card.  Then I prayerfully asked the Lord to show me my responsibility in that area and what was out of my control and therefore His responsibility.  Next, I chose to trust Him with the “stone” and I laid the card down and prayed.  I had about 20 cards all laying there when I was done… and my heart was lighter. 

After “laying down my stones” I realized that I had once again gotten it all wrong and was putting myself in God’s place.  I had come to feel like I had infinite responsibility for all these things in my life, but really, most of the time my responsibility boils down to:

·         Trusting God (Who is the All-Knowing, All-Powerful, Holy and Faithful One!)
·         Praying Always
·         Obeying and doing what he shows me is my part – which is usually a pretty “natural” and doable thing!

 

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:7-8 NIV

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