“The Lord lives! Blessed be my rock, and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation…” –2 Samuel 22:47 (NRSV)

When we lived in Minnesota our family became close friends with another family in our parish. We had two sons in elementary school; they had two sons in elementary school. We had a lot in common. Together we were active in the parish and we enjoyed camping, canoeing, sharing meals, and spending time together.

Bruce and Penny were “rockhounds” and their favorite rocks were agates. They would find the agates, which were plentiful in our area; Bruce would polish them, and Penny would make lovely jewelry from some of them.

We knew nothing about agates, but they taught us to find them. We spent hours walking rocky beaches and along creek beds looking down for the telltale reddish-brown stones, which when immersed in liquid and held to the light had a slight glow. Ultimately, we had enough stones that Bruce convinced me to buy a small polisher which tumbled the stones together with a grit and then a polisher for days, knocking off the rough edges and exposing the amazing patterns and striations of the polished agate.

One of the things that have saved me during this pandemic has been looking at my jar of polished agates – my rocks! I hold them to the light examining them closely. I feel how smooth (or in some cases not so smooth) they are. Most of all, I fondly remember our friends and the wonderful times we shared.

Thank you, God, for the gift of the wide variety of rocks on this earth. Thank you also for the gift of friendship and fond memories. Most of all, thank you for surrounding us with love. Amen.
-Cathey Frederick