Picking up Stones
There are a lot of rocks and stones in Spain, at least in the parts where I go hiking with a group of men every Wednesday morning. The rivers and streams are filed with rocks and stones
The hillsides are rocky, even though there is some vegetation, among them olive trees. Rocks make good caves, though. I wonder how the pickup (is it Ford?) – “like a rock” - would find the going here?
Some whole mountains seem to be rocks. (Notice the road below – good for hiking and cycling – I know!)
Rocks can be useful for making water channels,
Bridges (an old tram line from Granada used to run on this bridge),
And bridge supports.
It took a lot of rocks to make this dam!
The lake behind it is a major part of the water supply for Granada.
Below this stone house (or mill), someone used stones to make a trout ladder. I don’t know if it still works.
Even stone houses can have maintenance issues!
Some stones make good resting places. Jacob used one for a pillow. That was before he was 93 yrs. old, though, like this man.
Jesus talked about stones in the parable of the farmer planting seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the foot path. That’s pretty stony stuff. Not much will happen there except feeding the birds.
Some of it fell among the thorns and weeds which, even if the seeds did sprout and grow, soon got overgrown.
Some seeds fell on stony earth. Now is when the parable deviates a little from Jesus’ version. If left by itself, the stony earth will not be very fertile.
But what happens when the stones are removed? Many of you who garden or farm will remember picking up stones so that the soil becomes more productive. Stones are useful enough for bridges or houses or roads, but not in soil!
But when the stones are removed, what do you have? Fertile soil!
Soil that will bear forty, sixty, a hundred times as much as was planted!
We have heard from several sources that much work in Spain presently may resemble “picking up stones.” What is this? Prayer. Making friendships. Making the Word available to people. Positive publicity. Some of this can be done from anywhere. You can "pick up stones" in prayer from wherever you live! Some of it can only be done from here. The promise is that the Word, planted in fertile soil, will result in an abundant harvest.