Are You a Lonely Stone or Part of the Stone Wall?

The mountains are of eastern Tennessee are somewhat alien to me.  As a lifelong resident of Middle Tennessee, I am much familiar with the limestone bedrock of in the central "Grand Division" of the state.  True, I have been exposed to the sandstone of the Cumberland, but generally, I am most accustom to the rocks of "home".

That being said, I am amazed to see the power of water to shape rocks.  On a recent trip to Gatlinburg, the Mecca for those who desire to eat fudge, buy t-shirts, and buy "kitsch" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitsch).  I never knew a particularly good word to call the stuff available to be bought in Gatlinburg until I watched Outsourced (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425326/?ref_=nv_sr_2). Yiddish was not a language spoken in my home when I was growing up.

I digress. I am amazed at the power of water, under the influence of gravity and temperature to turn mountains into sand, with boulders, stones, and gravel being intermediate states.  As I looked at the stones and boulders along the Twin Creeks Trail, I was reminded that these stone have not always been where they now lie.  These stones got their start up on Mt. Leconte.  Through the action of freezing and thawing within microscopic fissures in the rock that makes up the mountain, these began their travel to where they lie today when they were separated from the bedrock. Through the action of running water, and moving ice, these rocks have been shaped as they have tumbled down. 

As I thought about this stone,

this stone, and even

this stone, I am reminded of how our lives are shaped by events and our interactions with others. As rocks are tumbled down a mountain by the power of water, we are propelled forward by existence.  We are shaped by one we bump into. We are scared by every fall. Where we land, without some other influence, is controlled natural forces.  We may be left alone.  We may be piled up with others.  While beauty can be found there, function is only found in what grows on us, or perhaps how we shape others as they are flung into our lives by external forces.  But when the Master Builder takes us and puts us together with others, we form what he desires and are to fulfill his purpose.  True, he may have to know some rough edges off.  Sure he may put us next to a rock that does not look like us.  We may not even agree that what he has built us into is "just right" for us, but He is the builder.

I suspect that you have figured it out by now that this is not about rocks or a rock wall.  It is about the Church,  made up of His people.  We come from different places, with our own imperfections, either internal flaws or external scars left from interaction with others, and yet we are brought together to be built together to be one, on the foundation of Christ.

1 Peter 2:4-6

English Standard Version (ESV)

4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
    a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”