I love collecting rocks. My son lives in northeastern Washington and where he lives, there are rocks of all sizes. Some big ones and smaller ones like those pictured above.

My children and grandchildren are always in my prayers, and to remind myself to pray for them, I’ve written their name on a rock. At each meal, when we give thanks for our food, we choose a rock and pray for that person. Then we deposit the rock into another bowl, so we can be sure no one is left out. I just did the math and realize there are forty-three rocks.

I read today about how when the Israelites, after wandering in the desert for forty years, finally arrived at the Promised land and crossed the Jordan River. The river was at flood level and was 100 yards to one mile wide. When the priests dipped their feet into the water’s edge, God stopped the flow of water and the people crossed the river. (Joshua 3: 14-17). The priests instructed the twelve tribe leaders to pick up a rock from the middle of the river to commemorate the miracle. Rocks from the middle of the riverbed–not the edge of the river–to remind the people of what just happened (Gotquestions.org).2 “Now choose twelve men, one from each tribe. 3 Tell them, ‘Take twelve stones from the very place where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them up at the place where you will camp tonight” (Joshua 4:2-3 NLT).

God knows how often we human beings forget and we need to be reminded by an item–a rock, a plaque, a quilt.

Would we forget to pray for our kids and grands if we didn’t have the bowl of rocks with their names on them? Probably not, but seeing their names on the rock is a reminder to us to pray for our loved ones.

How about you? Do you pray for your kids on a regular basis? When Jim and I got married, we inherited each other’s children. We didn’t give birth to them, but we consider all of them “ours”. The stones are just a reminder.

If God instructed the priests of Israel to collect rocks as a reminder to his followers, perhaps we need a reminder too.

Photo taken at Arches National Park

Photo taken at Turkey Point, Washington

Photo taken in Mt Hood National Forest

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See you next Thursday and thanks for reading my blog!