My great-Uncle Willie ran a lapidary shop.  Uncle Willie really enjoyed making jewelry and knick-knacks out of polished stones.  Uncle Willie and his wife, Grace, took daily walks where they would collect rocks.  It didn’t matter if they were at home in Minnesota, or on vacation somewhere else, they filled their pockets with stones as they strolled along. 

The process of getting the grime off of the stones so that the beauty underneath can be exposed is a long one, requiring a great deal of patience.

The first stage of rock polishing is called the “shaping stage.”  This process mixes stones of different sizes along with grit and COLD water into a tumbling barrel.  This barrel needs to be three-quarters of the way full so that the process of the rocks tumbling around, knocking into each other and into the sides of the barrel reveals the shape of the stone.  The barrel needs to be that crowded and filled with various sizes of stones so that the shaping is true and doesn’t conform to the sides of the barrel.  

Did you know that the rocks need to tumble for five days?  Imagine how many times those stones are knocked around tumbling into each other and the sides of the tumbler!  After tumbling, the stones need to be sifted, and washed so that the grit is completely removed.  It is very important that the grit all be washed off.  Rock tumbling enthusiasts call this process “removing sludge.”

Stages two and three are very similar to stage one, except a more refined grit is used each time.  Both stages require the rocks to tumble eight days each.

Stage four requires a great deal of patience.  After carefully removing the sludge, as even the tiniest amount of grit will not allow the rocks to polish correctly, the rocks are again placed into the tumbler with cerium oxide and water.  The rocks tumble for 48 hours at a time and then are checked.  If they are not polished to your satisfaction, then they are tumbled for another 48 hours.  That process is repeated until when you check on the rocks they shiny.  THEN  -- you put them back in and let them tumble four more days!

Doesn’t this whole process remind you of how the Lord works in our lives?  First, we come into the world as unpolished, grimy stones.  Then, the Lord cleans us up with water and life’s experiences (the tumbler and rocks), which we often need to repeat to really “get it.”   Removing the sludge again and again is the ongoing work of sanctification.

Our strength of character doesn’t just appear one day.  It needs to be tested many times to determine its stamina.  Life’s experiences help to rub away the grime so we can exhibit grace just as we have been graciously granted mercy by our Father in Heaven.

Tumbling along with you,

Paula Anderson, President of HOME

“Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. 

Let all you do be done with love.”

1 Corinthians 16:13, 14 NKJV 

Copyright 2007 by Paula Anderson, all rights reserved