There was once a young stone that lived alongside a placid river. The stone lay safely on the bank of the river, far enough to not be affected by the gentle flow of the water. His days were rather monotonous, but Saturday was his favourite day. Every Saturday morning a father and his young son would come and visit the river. The father would walk knee-deep into the river and look for stones on the river bed. He always seemed very particular about the kind of stones he searched for. Every stone he took out of the river, he would inspect carefully. Some he would put in his pocket, but others he would throw back into the river. This puzzled the young stone no end! He wondered why the man would never look for stones alongside the river where he lay.
Every Saturday the young stone would watch as the man would pick out and collect a good pile of riverbed stones. Next, he would take turns with his young son to throw the stones across the surface of the water. The father would show his son the perfect underarm technique to best propel the stones, causing them to skip-skip-skip across the water. How the young stone longed to be one of those stones that had the experience of a lifetime, bouncing and speeding to an exciting new adventure somewhere across the river!
One day the young stone decided to ask the Creator-King about this. “Your Majesty, why is it that I am never chosen to be a skipping stone? I am sure I will be able to bounce much further than many of the stones I have seen the man pick out!” The Creator-King was quiet for a while and then said, “In order to be chosen for greatness, you need to be positioned in the right place. Where are you positioned, little one?” “What kind of a question was this?”, the young stone thought to himself. But then, he was speaking to the Creator-King, so he answered hesitantly, “I am right here next to the river, Your Majesty. This is where I have always been and this is where I am happy and comfortable.” The Creator-King spoke again. “Why are you next to the river, and not inside of it?” The young stone was very surprised at the question. Did the Creator-King not know what the stones inside the river went through? He could see them from his spot on the bank of the river. The river stones were often tossed and thrown about by the moving water, and when it had rained and the water flow became stronger, he would often hear them moaning and crying out as they bumped one another and rolled around in the rushing water. He could see how they even lost bits and pieces of themselves as they rubbed up against one another. “I don’t particularly like to get myself wet, Your Majesty,” the young stone replied. “And besides, some of those river stones are sharp and not so comfortable to have around me! I cannot see why I need to subject myself to all of that! It looks painful, and I don’t like being rubbed up the wrong way.”
The Creator-King picked up the young stone and lovingly held him. “Why is it your desire to be a skipping stone?” He asked. The young stone’s voice was filled with excitement when he answered, “I want to soar and fly across the water! I want to know what it feels like to be chosen as an object of joy – just as I see the other skipping stones are when the man and his little son fling them across the water. I want to have a sense of purpose!” The Creator-King looked lovingly at the young stone, and spoke with a kind voice: “Little one, notice how rough your outside is. You have a sharp edge here, and an uneven bump on that side. You are dirty from the mud on the edge of the river.” The Creator was pointing out some of the things that the young stone had noticed about himself. He didn’t regard those to be such a big problem. Many of the stones around him on the riverside had similar imperfections. The Creator-King continued. “In order for you to be chosen for the special adventure you yearn for, you will need to get into the river. I cannot promise that there will only be smooth stones around you, and I cannot promise that you will not experience discomfort and even hurt when I send my rain to the earth and stir the water around you. But if you will remain inside the river, and if you will allow your fellow stones, and the storms that will come, to chip away at your rough edges and bumpy sides, and if you will allow the water to wash you clean again and again, you will soon see yourself being transformed into the most beautiful of stones. You will find your rhythm alongside the other river stones and you will learn to dance and sway with the current of the river streams and experience things you never thought possible. And then the day will come when YOU will be chosen, and you will feel yourself accelerating across the water, bouncing and going further than you ever dreamed you could!”
The young stone was silent for a long time. He was counting the cost of what was required of him. “Your Majesty,” he said at long last, “if You will help me into the water, and if You will be near when I cry out because of the strong currents and painful bumps, I know I will make You proud.” The Creator-King smiled in delight at the young stone. “Little one, I have great plans for you!”, He said. With that He walked waist deep into the river and gently released the young stone into the swaying water.
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Like this young stone, we may yearn for God to use us greatly. The question to ask is the same as that of the Creator-King: Where are you positioned? Are you INSIDE the river? In this parable the river is a symbol of the church. Church is a place that some do not regard essential for their spiritual growth. In some cases, people have been hurt by the church, causing them to pull away from the body of Christ. And yet, church was God’s idea. He knew that His body would consist of imperfect, faltering people – people with sharp edges and unattractive bumps. Yet, God meant for his people to be in the river together, chipping away at each other’s sharp edges, and smoothing away the things that do not resemble His likeness. He meant for them to weather the storms of life that do come, to let go of offenses, and to navigate the currents of change together. He meant for them to be washed by the water of His word again and again, and to experience the way He moves by His Holy Spirit – together! “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” – 2 Corinthians 2:9 (NKJV)