Touchstones

Take a quick look around your house. Chances are good you have some things on display (even if covered with a fine patina of dust, as mine are) that evoke special memories. When you gaze on them, your mind quickly conjures up remembrances - sights, sounds, events, and maybe even smells and tastes - that bring a smile to your face.

Vicki Kuyper, author of Breaking the Surface: Inviting God into the Shallows and the Depths of Your Mind (New Hope Publishers), tells us we can develop spiritual markers, which she calls touchstones, that serve a similar purpose. In the book, she describes God as (among other things) a “slippery fish”. In all His majesty, and with ways that are infinitely superior to ours (Isaiah 55:8-9), He, like said fish, is just too much for us to firmly and fully grasp.

However, by gathering touchstones that God provides, or by creating our own memory markers, we can grow in our understanding and experience of the Lord. Those who journal probably already have some of these touchstones recorded. If not, the book - with an in-depth look at the “whatsoevers” of Philippians 4:8 - can help us become more observant of God’s sometimes-obvious, but more often unnoticed, gracious interaction in our daily lives.

And in addition to collecting touchstones, Kuyper reminds us that we are “living stones"; we're being gathered and assembled by THE living Stone, into a spiritual house to show forth God’s praises to the world (1 Peter 2:4-10). Think of it; we can become other people’s touchstones that point the way to God.

Hmmm...I better go polish my stone. I want to make sure it properly and fully reflects God’s glory!

(I’ve included a photo of one of our special touchstones of God’s love and faithfulness: the recent baptism of granddaughter Grace Anne.)

Best wishes from lefthandrightbrain!