Skipping Stones by Marcia Lee Laycock

This image is one that has been with me for a long time: a smooth black stone skipping across a pond. There are many metaphors that can be drawn from it.

My life is a skipping stone, touching down here and there, causing ripples good and bad, as my influence touches the surface of other lives. The stone always disturbs the mirror-like surface of the pond, distorting the reflections of sky and land, causing a new image to emerge. Every life leaves its mark.

My writing is a skipping stone, leaping from one genre to another, one article to another, one book to another. The writing too, causes ripples, some quickly gone, others more enduring. One day its reach will finally be spent. The stone will disappear into the pond, its purpose complete.

My faith, too, is a skipping stone, skimming the surface of sometimes incomprehensible truths, truths that cause me to fall on my knees, truths that cause me to be still in wonder and awe. This stone is the most precious, the one that has eternal effect, both for me and perhaps for others.

All three of these skipping stones leave intersecting patterns. The life, the work, the faith, all overlap, skipping across the pond at the same time, having an effect in different ways but always causing those ripples.

Because I am a believer in Jesus Christ I know the hand that tosses these stones is strong and will never fail. I don’t have to fear that the ripples these stones cause will have an ill effect, as long as I trust in the one who sends them skidding. He sees not only the intersecting ripples of my life, work and faith, but those of many others. He sees not just the surface of the pond but the many layers beneath and above it. He knows where and when the ripples will touch, blend and create their new patterns. And I can trust that the touch of the ripples my stones create will do His will, no matter my failings. 

So I continue, in obedience. I let the stones fly.

Blessed is the man (or woman) whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage (Psalm 84:5). 

Marcia writes from Alberta Canada where she lives with her pastor/husband and an aging golden retriever. She was the winner of the Best New Canadian Christian Writers' Award for her first novel, One Smooth Stone and the sequel, A Tumbled Stone was shortlisted for a Word Award. Her devotionals have also won many awards and have been published in Canada and the U.S. Her most recent release is a fantasy series for middle grade readers - Journey to a Strong Tower, Journey through Fire and Smoke and Journey to a New Beginning, all available on Amazon or from the author.

Visit her website at http://www.marcialeelaycock.com

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