When All I Can Bring is a Rock…
There is a memorable scene from It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, where the Peanuts gang are out trick-or-treating, and after each house the kids proclaim with joy what great treats they got. Charlie Brown is the only exception, and after each house he remarks glumly, “I got a rock.” It’s such a sad, funny little scene that we quote it on the regular around here when something disappointing or underwhelming happens.
Lately I’ve been rereading a scripture story about a man we simply know as the brother of Jared. His people were preparing for a long ocean journey in ark-like boats that would be tightly sealed so they could travel both above and under the water. The brother of Jared is worried about making the trip confined in darkness, and the Lord invites him to figure out what to do about it. So he resourcefully makes molten glass stones, and, with great faith, asks the Lord to touch the stones with his finger to make them shine, which the Lord does.
When I think about those clear stones, I see it two ways. On the one hand, the brother of Jared had some tenacity and mad skills to figure out how to actually melt stones into glass. Granted, I am not a “how things work” person, but I can’t imagine how he went about that task with access to only primitive tools and technology. On the other hand, considering the magnitude of the miracle he was asking for, it’s kind of like he went to the Lord and said, “I brought a rock.”
I feel like that sometimes. Like, this is the very best I can do, but it still falls way short of what I want or need it to be. Like my offering is the functional equivalent of a rock. The thing I love about this story is that God does not criticize the brother of Jared for the ways in which it is lacking. Rather, He sees the way the brother of Jared applied what skill and expertise he did have towards solving a problem, and commends his faithfulness. The Lord accepts the offering and magnifies it with His own light.
This is the God I believe in, the God I am grateful for; the God I feel pushing me outside my comfort zone and then mercifully filling in all the gaps, bringing life-giving light to my dark places.
