Throwing rocks
While on vacation in Ontario my family got the chance to spend 5 days with my sister at her cabin by the lake. Five days of swimming, boating, sleeping, reading, eating, bear watching and marshmellow cooking. We loved it and wished we could have spent the whole summer there.
As we relaxed I found my son doing something that all boys like to do; throwing rocks into the water. For a minute we watched as Caleb did his best Roy Halladay impression as he took baseball sized stones and threw them with all of his might into the lake, laughing as every stone left his hand. It was definately a Normal Rockwell painting in the making … until we realized that he was actually throwing AT something. Caleb wasn’t just throwing large stones into the lake to see the ripple they make – he was taking the largest stones he could find and throwing them at the 6 ducks who called the lake their home. A mere two feet away Caleb was trying to see if he could take a wing off these unsuspecting birds.
We quickly put a stop to his target practice (I told him the only animal he’s allowed to throw stones at are cats :-) Like most boys he just didn’t think of the consesquences of his actions.
It got me thinking; is there anything that I do, withouth thinking, that may hurt other people – and I don’t even realize it? Do I do or say things that may seem quite normal to most people that may be hurtful to some? More importantly, is there anything that I do or say or think that might be quite hurtful to my heavenly father?
It’s funny – a little stone throwing non-incident really got me reflecting on what I do personally. It’s funny how God works in ways like this.
*as an aside – there would have been a positive side if he did hit one of the ducks with a stone! We would had one less hotdog meal.
