On my dining room table there is a tray filled with stones. Ive collected them from all over the world. I love picking up rocks. Most of them I drop again somewhere along the trail, but some I keep. Some I keep to remind me of a particular place or experience. Some I keep simply because they are beautiful. Some because they have a feel or a shape that intrigues me.
Ive read several parables over the years about picking up stones. In one, they ground you and keep you from being swept away by the currents of the stream up ahead. In one, they start out as regular rocks and through friction and time they become smooth and polished, and beautiful. In another I learned about recognizing the true jewel from among a bunch of pretty rocks.
My father taught me about stones. He was a jewel cutter. He would
seat me at a table before a dozen emeralds. “One is true,” he would tell
me. “The others are false. Find the true jewel.”
I would ponder—studying one after the other. Finally I would choose. I was always wrong.
“The secret,” he would say, “is not on the surface of the stone; it
is inside the stone. A true jewel has a glow. Deep within the gem there
is a flame. The surface can always be polished to shine, but with time
the sparkle fades. However, the stone that shines from within will never
fade.”
With the years, my eyes learned to spot true stones. I am never
fooled. The stones I purchase are authentic. The gems I sell are true. I
have learned to see the light within. ~ unknown
For me, lessons learned, insights gained, perspective shifts, these are all the jewels among the pretty rocks, my wisdom stones. If I just admire them for a minute and put them back down, they are lost. I forget. Im lucky if I find another stone somewhere along the road that reminds me of one I've lost. So, Ive decided to try collecting these wisdom stones, like I collect the rocks on my table, so that I can remember. So that my visitors might notice them, appreciate a few, and enjoy the stories they tell.
That's the inspiration for this blog, Picking Up Stones. No one else may read this, and that is ok. I am not an expert on anything I will write about. There will be very little rhyme or reason to the order of my ramblings. These are just the stories of the rocks I pick up. Sometimes they will just be fleeting pebbles I will choose to drop and not regret. That will probably be most common. Sometimes they will be worth remembering, worth sharing, something beautiful--at least to me. Rarely, one will be a true jewel. But in the end, they are all still just rocks. My rocks. My wisdom stones.
This blog is a challenge to myself, to not only learn something new every day, but to hold it, examine it, share it, and remember it.
