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---
title: Legendary Rocks
lesson: Rely on God's appraisals for what has real value in this life
---
One of my favorite duties as a grandfather is taking the grandchildren
on exciting expeditions in the river bottoms near the homestead house in
Ridgefield. Whenever they come over and the weather is pleasant, we will
pack a bag full of snacks and pile onto one of the four
wheelers.
{width="6.5in" height="4.875in" alt=""}
We ride the four wheeler down to the old Pioneer
Cemetery and park it at the entrance gate. Next we walk down a road that
descends down to the bottoms. There we have a great time eating snacks
and exploring the many ponds, creeks and marshes of the river
bottoms.
{width="6.5in" height="4.875in" alt=""}
There are many ways to get dirty and muddy, but
that\'s the whole point \-- to get grubby and have a good time doing
it.
{width="6.5in" height="4.875in" alt=""}
On one of these occasions, I was quite amused
about what developed as we were coming back home. This was in the Spring
of 2017. The winter rains had been particularly heavy and washed out
large sections of the road. There were thousands of large round river
rocks strewn about, most of which were rather plain grey rocks that had
been smoothed by years of tumbling in the riverbeds. Occasionally, you
could find one that was a little different from the rest. Perhaps it was
white instead of grey. Some of them were reddish or nearly dark purple.
Some of them had steaks of quarts or other interesting features that
made them stand out from the other dull grey ones.
On our journey back home, as we walked on the road back up the hill
to the cemetery, Grady decided to assume the role of "gemstone
expert." Whenever he saw a particular rock of interest, he would pick
it up and use an appropriate adjective to classify it. The first few
rocks were described by phrases such as "Oh here's a cool one" or
"this one is kind of pretty." Now Madden and Charly were quite eager
to assume the role of "gemstone pack-mules." They were
enthusiastically willing to receive Grady's choices of the best rocks
and incorporate them into their own personal treasure trove.
Soon, both Madden and Charly had all the rocks they could carry, but we
were only half-way up the hill and there were plenty of treasures left
to discover. Madden\'s pockets were so full of rocks that his pants were
on the verge of falling to his ankles, but he was determined to get all
his priceless treasures back home. Charly didn\'t have pockets, so she
clutched all her treasures to her chest with both arms. When Grady
pointed out another rock on the ground, she would bend over to get it
and loose several from her collection in the process.\
\
It was impressive to observe Grady\'s skill at filling his role. His
adjectives got progressively stronger as he went on. \"Pretty\" and
\"cool\" progressed to \"awesome\" and \"amazing.\" Soon he was all the
way up to using \"spectacular\" and finally \"legendary.\" I really
couldn\'t tell if he actually believed his own sales pitch. His
enthusiasm was infectious and convincing, but I thought I detected a
slight impish grin in his expression. After all, he wasn\'t carrying a
single rock and yet his younger brother and sister were staggering up
the hill with all they could carry. Someday I\'ll have to ask him if he
was having a little fun at their expense or if he was genuinely
convinced of the immense value of his gemstone appraisals.\
\
It caused me to reflect a bit about the experience. It made me wonder
about how willing I am to believe the sales pitch of the worldly
salesmen. Is it possible that I am just as easily convinced to carry a
burden of stones through life, whose value is probably not nearly as
high as purported by the \"subtle craftiness\" of those who \"lie in
wait to deceive?\"\
\
As I pondered later over the experience, I became grateful for the
knowledge that we have a reliable source of appraisals we can trust to
help us assign value to that which will truly bring lasting joy.
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