Discover the Beauty Within: Surrender & Connection Series

There is a story of a man who went into a gift shop that was filled with beautiful rocks from all over the world. He noticed a bowl of small, polished stones on the counter. The sizes ranged from about one to three inches in diameter. They were so highly polished that a myriad of colors was clearly visible and incredibly beautiful.

He asked the old man behind the counter where these beautiful stones come from and the store owner replied, “We got them from the stream outside.” The customer quickly informed him that he had been in the stream and there were only ugly rocks there and asked, “How is it possible that these exquisite rocks came from the stream?”
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The old man took him to the back of the shop and showed him what a rock tumbler. It was a large cylindrical container set on electric rollers that turned the cylinder over and over. He said that when he put the rocks in the tumbler and let it run for about a month, they came out like the rocks on the counter. The man still found it hard to believe and asked if that was all he did. The old man laughed and said, “We do one more thing. We pour some special oil into the tumble with the rocks.” He laughed again and said that one time he forgot the oil, and when we opened the tumbler, it was full of dust.

​Discovering the beauty within each of us and our family members means being willing to examine our limiting beliefs, allowing ourselves to grow, develop and becoming more than we are right now. If I think about my life, it has taken a lot of challenges and bumping up against situations and people to become more beautiful, more polished. Sometimes that means working through disagreements with my family, friends, and church community.  It also involves wrestling with my own pride and stubbornness and recognizing what stands in the way of being my best self—allowing my higher self, the light, and God to shine through me. If our path in life includes a rock tumbler of sorts to help us work on our rough edges and find our inner beauty, perhaps the oil in the tumbler is love and connection within our family and community.

This is the first blog in a series. Check back next week for more.

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