Like rocks being tumbled . . .

One day a man went walking.   As he walked he picked up an assortment of rocks which he found along the way.   In their natural state these rocks were no more than dull gray lumps with a few ragged edges, some with a few streaks of colour, but really they were . . .  none of them . . .  that remarkable to look at.

When he got home, he put the rocks in a old, plastic barrel along with some coarse grit and water. He tumbled the rocks together for several weeks. Every few days he pulled out the rough stones to check their progress. Then he would return them to the barrel and let erosion and friction continue to do their work.

All day long . . . day after day . . .  the rock tumbling machine whined and groaned as the stones rubbed against one another. Sometimes it seemed that the machine’s motor would give out before it finished the work. After about  four weeks of this noise and caos . . .  he removed the rocks and found they had become beautiful, polished pieces of jasper, carnelian, tiger’s eye, quartz, obsidian, and adventurtine.

Combined, altogether  . . .  they were worth five, ten or even a hundred times their original value.  He had seen all along the value in these dirty old stones . . .  and the value which came from putting them under stress and tumbling them together . . .  the very act of which turned them into something quite beautiful.

It is the same with life.   We come into life with rough and jagged edges, with a streak of colour here and there, rough diamonds as it were.   As our days follow one another, life beats against our edges . . .  experiences, both good and bad, rub against us . . .  friction beats at our brows . . . there are moments when we sometimes think we just cannot take any more.

Truth is . . .  we are all being polished.   Life and all that we experience are beating, brushing and tumbling us into the beautiful stones we each have the potential to become.

I love that thought . . .

“No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God … and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven.” 
~Orson F Whitney



When I was a little girl, I just loved the Lennon Sisters.   I remember watching them on the Lawrence Welk Show, and I had some novels which had been created about them, and paper dolls.  I've been enjoying listening to them on You Tube this morning and thought I would share one of their videos with you.   For your listening pleasure.   My favourite one was Janet, but that's because she was the youngest.

  

Baking in The English Kitchen today  . . .  Cut and Come Again Cake.   A delicous old fashioned favourite!

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Have a wonderful Saturday.  May your cup runneth over!