What Do You Do with the Rocks in Your Pocket? by Jan Powell

What Do You Do with the Rocks in Your Pocket?

by Jan Powell

“These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever”

(Joshua 4:7b, NIV).

We all carry rocks in our pockets. The notion might come as a surprise since this cargo and the special pockets into which we put it remain invisible most of the time.

These rocks fall into two categories. Some represent firm convictions permeated with wisdom we’ve acquired. Others reflect hard attitudes we harbor from pain and loss when we’ve refused wisdom. Our response to the unseen weights we carry every day influences all aspects of our lives.

The Old Testament Israelites had centuries of rock instruction. In Genesis, people gathered these for rough altars to worship God. When enslaved by the Egyptians and forced to build massive pyramids, stones of any sort churned up unhappy memories.

God’s deliverance included a new view. At Mt. Sinai—a gigantic, imposing rock—they encountered the Lord and received instructions for a whole new community and a radically different life.

Entering the Promised Land, they crossed the Jordan River and afterward set up large stone markers. Repeating this practice at other times kept everyone’s focus on the Lord.

In contrast, small, easily held rocks were used to execute serious sinners who offended God and brought tragedy on the nation. Jesus faced would-be stoners and turned a planned mob execution into a lesson on forgiveness and restoration.

As writers, we can learn from these examples. Do we cast our invisible projectiles through our words to make ourselves look righteous, or do we use them to elevate God?

Few of us carry actual rocks. Nevertheless, our attitudes and opinions that nestle like ready-to-use-weapons in our invisible pockets creep into our writing—either memorials to what God has done, or if we feel God-like, what we think we should do to “straighten out” people who carry different stones.

My late brother, Dave, an archaeologist, loved rocks. Years ago, he showed me the glitter of “fool’s gold” that tricked treasure seekers and we laughed. Another time he gave me a big piece of broken amethyst, my birthstone. Outwardly unpolished, the rich beauty showed where the stone had been shattered. It now resides in my rock garden as a reminder of how God uses all kinds of rocks for his purpose.

Let’s think about the weights in our invisible pockets. We must allow God to use those unpolished rocks of our broken experiences to help us write words of encouragement and beauty.

Lord, empower my weighty words for your good purposes. Amen.

Jan Powell, a graduate of the University of South Florida, helps writers through Writing with You, offering editing, rewriting, and coaching for fiction and non-fiction. Published in The Wordsmith Journal and Splickety, she has written for Inkspirations since the beginning.

Her in-depth editing includes poetry, devotionals, memoirs, fantasy, murder mysteries, thrillers, romantic suspense, and flash fiction.

She has hosted Tampa Word Weavers for almost two decades and has served in its leadership.

Please follow and like us: