My wonderful editor at The Southern Cross, Mike Johnson, sent me a letter after I turned in this week’s column. I asked if I could share it here and he said I could.
Rachel good column,
It made me think of my brother-in-law – Russ.
Aside from being married to Peg my sister, Russ has two distinct aspects of his character – He was severely wounded and handicapped as a result of his service as a corpsman during the Viet Nam War after which he went on to become a member of the first group of Physician Assistants to graduate from Yale. He practices as a pathologist. (Whenever I think of grousing over difficulty I need only think of Russ and all belly aching ceases.)
So how does this relate to your column – Russ loves life and he loves my sister. With great difficulty he and my sister walk the beach near their Cape Cod home. As they walk hand in hand, Russ frequently stops to pick up stones from the beach and hand them to my sister until Peg has no room in her pockets. Each of the stones is heart shaped – he has a talent for seeing them as the breaking waves move them back and forth on the slopping shoreline. After years of such walks these heart shape rocks now adorn the chair rails and window sills in every room of their home. The only commonality is their shape. They maybe hearts of stone but they were gathered in love.
They have three sons – all married with children. When they visit they collect heart shape rocks – one keeps them in jars, another in a box and the youngest has a heart rock garden.
It is remarkable that this family so readily identifies these heart rocks, and equally gratifying to know what they symbolize to them.
I think we all become experts in finding what we are looking for.
God reveals Himself to all who look for Him.
Peace, enjoy your day.
Michael
Wow. Beautiful – simply…beautiful.