I Am A Moonstone 2-13-26

I am in awe of all the ways God, our Creator, designed from before the creation of the world, in all the things He made long before anyone walked the earth, to draw us to Himself and lavish us with so many ways to see Him, others, and ourselves in relationship with Him!

In Romans chapter 1 Paul writes that “since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse” (v. 20). Lots of people will attest to this fact in all the beauty surrounding us in everything from a sunset or sunrise boldly painting the sky with vibrant colors, to the majesty of mountains, to the power of a roaring thunderstorm, to the intricate detail of flowers, the human body and atoms, all perfectly made, divinely held together and declaring His presence in our midst!

At prayer dock yesterday, snuggled in a blanket in the rocking chair in the livingroom, I listened to praise music, then prayers as we prayed what came to mind and heart: gratitude, intercession, confession, and thanksgiving, declaring God’s goodness and faithfulness in our lives and situations.

Often, it happens that something from one of our prayers sparks a thought in another and the prayers weave together from one into another, sometimes days later. Earlier in the week, Pastor Chris had said that the moon, not having any light of its own, would be a blank hole in the night sky, blocking the light of the stars, but invisible to any of us, if there was no sun. So too, we have no light of our own, but God’s Son shining on us, gives us the opportunity to shine for Him, reflecting His light to a world that wouldn’t be able to see us, if we weren’t reflecting His light. This morning that thought combined with the verse about us being “living stones, being built up into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5). So part way through my prayer, I started laughing as God brought to my mind one of my childish disappointments as one of those “lessons clearly seen in creation”!

As I had started to learn about birthstones, (years ago!) I was disappointed with the birthstone assigned to June. There are three actually, but none of them have the pizazz in my mind as other months. Emerald for May and ruby for July are so brilliant! Amethyst for February and all the other colors ranging from deep green, red, purple, deep golden yellow and so on are all so bold! And then June is alexandrite. seemingly nondescript, light pink – no depth of color, muted. I think that’s why alternative birthstones were offered as substitutes. Pearls are one, which aren’t really gemstones like the others, but no one can argue with their beauty – hey, the gates in the heavenly New Jerusalem are giant pearls (Rev.21:21)! And then there’s the moonstone. Milky white, nearly colorless in most cases, and touted for being more “affordable” than other gemstones. No real excitement there… but wait! What we gloss over in our misunderstanding, God uses to remind us of Him!

Moonstones, like their namesake have no light of their own, but when light shines on them, the iridescence of the light doesn’t just reflect off the surface, it also shines into it and seems to “hover just below the surface of the stone”, especially when it’s polished smooth by the gemologist. They do come in various colors, which I hadn't known before, but the ones with a light blue sheen in the semi-clear milkiness seems to be the most common.

I was in the middle of my prayer when all those random details and verses converged to show me God made ME to be a moonstone! While I have no light of my own, I am created to reflect his light, not just on the surface, but from within this stone – a stone that is being built up into a living temple, a stone, built on the foundation of Christ, our Chief Cornerstone. So now, far from being disappointed, muted, and an unfavorable comparison to the others, it’s a brilliant and beautiful expression of God’s creative genius, as are we - living stones - absorbing AND reflecting His light in a heavenly glow to those around us, built up into Christ, our head! <3 And there’s nothing second-rate about that!