Re: [Re: [McKinley: native american stuff]]

hanlon@earthling.net wrote:
>
> ---- you wrote:
> > My favorite is one about a
> > rock, but I can't remember the guy's name (and I think >it's only vaguely
> > Indian... oh, well...). It starts with B and the story >is about someone
who
> > has a favorite rock. Anyone know the one I mean?
>
> It's called "Everybody Needs a Rock", and it affected me profoundly in
middle school. Someone (maybe the author) read it at a school assembly. It's
about how if you keep a rock in your pocket at all times, you will always be
reminded of and connected to nature, because you can always reach down and
touch a little piece of the earth, no matter where you are. I lost my first
rock, but I still carry the second one in my pocket every day, 5 or 7 years
after I heard that book read. I put it on my dresser at night with my keys and
my chapstick, and I'm sure my roommate thinks I'm nuts :)
> The author is Byrd Baylor--I found it on Amazon.

Absolutely right! Thank you! My favorite rock is a geode, because it is so
plain and grey on the outside and so beautiful on the inside. (Mine is all
amethyst-colored crystals inside.) The first time I saw one, I asked myself,
what possessed someone to chop this ugly thing open? and I felt that God
showed me it's like many of us, plain vanilla, maybe even ugly on the outside,
but gorgeous if someone is willing to look into our hearts and that no matter
what, He could always see the beauty inside each of us. So, I immediately
bought several geodes and it has been one of my regular prayers since then
that He would help me learn to see beyond the exterior appearance/behavior of
each person I meet to the beauty that He alone can see.

Betty

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Received on Wed May 10 15:29:59 2000