Rocks - were they really that beautiful?

I guess you could call me a collector. I have a lot of things. I like them.

Three years ago when Darrell and I got engaged, we decided he should finally move in. My kids, who are now 28 and 31 years old still had a lot of their own collections here. So, I began the task of going through things and determining what to keep and what to store. This task required a few phone calls. I remember several, but two that stuck with me. "Hi Noah, hey, you know this little container of Mt. St. Helen's ash? Do you still want it?" - Noah: "I like that. Yeah, keep it for me." Done. It is in storage with the matchbox cars, baseball cards, super-hero toys, etc. I did not count the containers.

When I got to Anna's room it became even more difficult. I remember calling her and asking her if she wanted me to keep her bag of rocks. She said "Well, I'd like to go through them myself." So, the rocks went into storage with the Barbies, the Care Bears, the Ponies, Charmkins, and many stuffed animals.  I remember thinking it was a little silly to keep the rocks at the time, but I did it for her.

So, the cleaning out continued and lo and behold, in another place of stashed treasures I found a little brown striped suitcase that had been mine when I was a child. I opened it up and it was full of, you guessed it, rocks. I kept them.

I was thinking about all of this the other morning, when I was too tired to get up, but too wound up to sleep. It made me wonder about the rocks. We kept them for a reason - they were special to us. We saw the beauty in each rock we kept. Why then, when we look at them now, do we only see rocks? Is it because we are so caught up in the chaos we create that we can no longer see beauty, or is because they really aren't beautiful and never were?
I believe we have just forgotten what matters. I believe we are so weighed down with what life has become that we just don't see at all.
You have heard the expression - "Stop and smell the roses."
I have a new one.

Stop and see the rocks. 

Pick a few up and take them home. You might get your hands a little dirty, but they don't have thorns. When you look at them - think about what really matters and make time for those things.

I will.