Smooth Stones

This last week I have run into a few people from my past. No, not the scary kind where you try to hide behind the celery stand at the grocery market, or in a clothing rack at the department store, but the good kind. They were those meetings which resulted from two people living their lives in a normal way and intersecting paths at the time God chooses.
Those I met up with from elementary and high school days were not people who played a huge role in shaping who I am today. Those individuals who have done that I could probably count on my ten fingers. But they did play a part. And they did play a significant part. I am not sure why God brought us together for those brief encounters, but I am thankful.
One reason I am thankful is because it reminds me of all the work God has gone through to make me who I am today.

Have you ever thought about the work it takes to make one smooth stone on the beach? It takes thousands, perhaps millions, of small waves to smooth a stone. Sure, there may be a big storm every now and then, but the real work is done by the individual waves rolling the stone up and down the shore, the scraping and clashing of other little rocks on the larger one. Every wave contributes. It may only move the rock a few inches, or perhaps it may roll it all the way up the beach, depending on the size of the wave and the position of the rock when the wave hits.
God used these people in my life in my earlier years, and now He brought them back to roll me a little further. I thank God for that.