Monday Writing...12/10/18..."The Ordinary Stone (PT. 1)"

Good Morning,

Today's Writing is Part One of a writing that was too long to put in on one day. The final part will be posted tomorrow. Lynda is talking about how many things she can be missing when she strides unmindful through her daily walks. Lynda wrote, "...for some reason, I was pulled back, compelled to pick it up and carry it home in my pocket.  What caused me to do this?  Whose voice was I hearing?  My own – telling me that there would be at least one good story there; or did the stone cry out to the Lord, so He would cause me to turn around and bring it home with me?

Lets try to be more mindful so that we will not miss something the Lord is using to give us a lesson.

Lynda
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Today's Devotional 

"The Ordinary Stone (PT. 1)

Written by 

Lynda Kinnard

My morning walk was peaceful.  I love the quiet weekend mornings with our dog.  I am free to think things through in ways that I cannot when I am inside.

The Lord speaks to me anytime, anywhere, but I feel more open and undistracted when I am able to see the sky and hear the birds.   Well, not really undistracted, I find my thought meander from thing to thing, but at an easier pace than at other times.  Perhaps this is why I hear better when I am outside.

This time, while thinking about a conversation with a friend, I was trying to find a way to define how the dark and painful things from our past actually make us uniquely qualified to step into the huge thing that He intended for us to do before creation. 

And there it was, just sitting on the ground in the dirt, like an ordinary stone.  In fact it was an ordinary stone.  But it was also so much more. I’d seen it out of the corner of my eye as I passed it.  Then, for some reason, I was pulled back, compelled to pick it up and carry it home in my pocket.  What caused me to do this?  Whose voice was I hearing?  My own – telling me that there would be at least one good story there; or did the stone cry out to the Lord, so He would cause me to turn around and bring it home with me?

In any case, I have it now.  I rinsed off most of the dirt and placed it on my dresser, so I must choose to look at it or not.

There is a home truth for me right there.  How many things do I see as I pass them, or let them pass me, without stopping to acknowledge them?  Words unsaid, a needed touch or hug not given.  That moment with God that I postpone may be the call to pray for someone I cannot see, but desperately needs me to pray intentionally for them right now.  This may explain some of the emptiness that comes over me at times.  My unsaid prayers may explain the loss of the joy I could have felt in that lost conversation with the Lord.

This particular stone is about the size of a regular marshmallow.  One side is fairly smooth and the other is rough and uneven, obviously broken sometime in the past.  But the edges are not sharp, so perhaps the break was not too painful; or was so long ago that the jagged edges have been softened over time.

(Part 2 will be posted tomorrow, Tuesday)

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"The Beautiful Things We Miss"

Sung by 

Matthew West

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"You have seen many things, but you pay no attention;
your ears are open, but you do not listen.”
Isaiah 42:20

Always strive to notice what you see and pay attention.

Nothing happens by accident and who knows

if you are missing something special that

God has placed on your path for you...

something that has a lesson from Him

for you to learn from in it.

YOUR SPECIAL STONE!

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Prayers are lifted up daily for you

 by the Devotional Writers and the Monthly Writing Staff

 of Women's Focus Ministries.

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