Skipping Stones

“The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart...”

Romans 10:8

Just before sunset on Long Island Sound we trekked a short distance to the family's small, private beach. In bare feet and sweatshirt, I scoured the water's edge, filling a small bucket with unique seashells and hermit crabs while my sister and brother-in-law sought smooth, flat stones for skipping.

Almost like a baseball pitcher on his mound, my brother-in-law turned the flat stone in his hand until the grip felt right. Then, with a low pull he swung his arm back and forward, releasing the weathered stone with precision across the Sound. Barely audible against the gentle surf, we watched each stone carefully counting the skips aloud, "One, two, three, four."

And then we waited for the rings to spread and dissipate from the epicenter of each skip.

Our lives can be a lot like those skipping stones-rough, battered, weathered- until we're worn smooth by the Master's hands. Life's storms used by Him to launch an epicenter of ministry from our center that multiplies like the stone's ripples over the surface of the water. 

But, God must be our center or we will sink. So, how do we know when we've made God our center? I love the words of Frances J. Roberts on this in Come Away My Beloved:

"For when [God] is more precious than all else; when [God] has become more real to you than all else; and when you love [God] more than you love any other...For [God] does NOT intend to strip you of earthly ties and joys, but [He] longs to have you give [Him] the center of  your life that [His] blessing may flow out to the circumference."