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Lenten Devotional: The Glory in the Grit
CHICAGO, IL (February 25, 2004) - Covenant Communications occasionally posts
devotionals from Covenanters. This Ash Wednesday devotional by Steve
Elde, pastor of Winnetka Covenant Church in Wilmette, Illinois, appeared
in the February issue of "The Covenant Companion."
When we vacation in Washington State, one of our favorite destinations
is a Pacific Ocean beach in Olympic National Park. It's a rugged beach,
covered more with rocks than with sand. Just offshore are huge sea
stacks, defiant islands of stone with a few brave trees and scrub bushes
at the top, clinging to life against the odds. The waves crash onto
shore, dragging rocks back into the depths. The pebbles rattle against
each other as they resist the waves. We walk the beaches, picking up
rocks and shells. The rocks, washed clean in the ocean water, glisten in
the bright sunlight.
Once in a while you catch a glimpse of a stone of remarkable beauty.
These we pick up and put into our pockets. At day's end, we have
collected enough ballast to brave even the strongest winds as we walk
along the ocean shore.
When I get back home and empty my pockets, I wonder why I saved or even
picked up many of these stones. Gone is the beauty I first saw in them
as they sparkled in the sunlight, still wet from the ocean. There is no
shine left, the colors and patterns have faded. They are unremarkable,
no more interesting than rocks you might find along the road.
My brother-in-law is also a rock collector, though he is more
discriminating in the rocks he selects for his pockets. He collects
rocks so that he can polish them. He polishes the stones in his basement
in a tumbler filled with abrasive grit. The stones are turned in this
grit for weeks, the abrasives grinding away all the roughness, the
dullness, the imperfection. When it is time, he reaches into the grit
and pulls out the stone, now revealed in all its glory. What was
momentary is now lasting. It is there for all to see.
Reflecting on this as we approach another season of Lent, I am struck by
how much we are like those stones. It is sometimes hard to see the image
of God in us and in others. It is fleeting. We catch a glimpse, like the
beauty of rocks glistening at the water's edge. But much of life is
dull, routine, and ordinary. Some of it is painful and disappointing.
The grit is where we live. But it is through the grit that the rough
edges are worn smooth, the dullness rubbed away, and the glory is revealed.
"Beloved," John says, "now we are the children of God--what we will be
has not yet been revealed. But we know that when he comes we shall be
like him, for we shall see him as he is." This is a word of hope for all
of us.
As a Lenten discipline, I invite you to think about the grit in your
life. And if you can find it within yourself, give thanks for these
things, remembering that it is within the grit that the glory lies
hidden. Now we may see only a glimpse, then we will see fully.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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