There's a story told about a man who had a huge boulder in his front
yard. He grew weary of this big, unattractive stone in the center of his
lawn, so he decided to take advantage of it and turn it into an object
of art. He went to work on it with hammer and chisel, and chipped away
at the huge boulder until it became a beautiful stone elephant. When he
finished, it was gorgeous, breath-taking.
A neighbor asked, "How
did you ever carve such a marvelous likeness of an elephant?"
The
man answered, "I just chipped away everything that didn't look like an
elephant!"
You may have heard a version of this story that uses
the name of Michelangelo as the man who is doing the sculpting
(sometimes the story gives his explanation of how the statue of David
was created, other times the statue of Moses).
But the story also
illustrates how God creates men in His likeness. He starts with nothing
much more than a boulder, but like a great artist, he sees the potential
for what lies within and chips away until we are shaped in His image.
Look at how Jesus dealt with men like Peter. Who would have looked
at Peter -- the loud mouth who was always saying things he would later
regret -- and seen the disciple he would ecome? Who would have looked at
James and John -- nicknamed "Sons of Thunder" because of their temper --
and considered them to be ideal candidates? But Jesus had a way of
looking into the hearts of men and women, seeing not only what they
were, but what they had the potential to become. Then he set about the
task of "chipping away" to uncover the beauty that lay beneath the
surface.
Wouldn't it be great it we could learn to look at men
and women the same way -- to see not only what they are, but to see what
they can become? If we would only do that, perhaps instead of dismissing
people as "worthless boulders", we would set about the task of chipping
away to reveal their full potential.
"Now when Jesus looked at
him, He said, 'You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called
Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone)." (John 1:42)
Alan Smith
Innisfil, ON, Canada
