Once, There Was a Rock

Once there was a rock.

Each morning, as the sun rose and warmed him, he felt gratitude for the energy the universe gave him so freely and abundantly. As the day continued, he felt grateful for the creatures who came to rest in his shadow. He rejoiced in their life-energy. In the evening he felt gratitude for the companionship of the critters who came to huddle near his still-warm mass.

It was a simple life. A person, with a large, intelligent, sophisticated brain, might call it a boring life, or even "not-life" -- "You can't go anywhere or do anything or have stuff or create anything or feel love or joy."

If the rock were to feel the need to justify his life, he might answer this person like this: "I don't need to go anywhere. All that I need -- warmth, light, companionship -- comes to me effortlessly. I don't need to accumulate stuff. Everything I give away comes back to me multiplied.

"I do do something -- I attract God's creatures to me so I can share the gifts that He has so generously given me. I bring them joy.

"I don't need to create -- I am, and that is enough.

"And who are you to say what love means to a rock? I do feel the love of my Creator, and I share it freely and immediately. I have joy in filling the measure of my creation. Being is reason enough to love myself."


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No, people are not rocks. And the life of a rock just might be boring to a human spirit. But maybe we can learn something. "Consider the lilies of the field..." (Matt 6:28)