Lessons from My Billion-Year-Old Friend

My teacher is red, round, and a billion years old. Without saying a word my teacher has taught important lessons about hope, purpose, and ecological connections. Yes, my teacher is a friendly, billion-year-old rock ready to share lessons for well-being that will enrich our journey of life.
I have a small prayer garden at the Bright Star Farm in west Texas. The centerpiece is a soccer-ball size, red granite stone. I've often spent time reflecting on the silent story told by my rocky friend. Thanks for listening!

Segments include:

Meet my billion-year-old friend

A Rocky Road to the Farm

Everything Connects

Made to Do This

Hope for Billions to Come

CITED

“Geology of the Rocky Mountains.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_the_Rocky_Mountains

“Alkali Feldspar Granite.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkali_feldspar_granite

“Alkali feldspar granite, some varieties of which are called 'red granite',[1] is a felsic igneous rock and a type of granite rich in the mineral potassium feldspar (K-spar). It is a dense rock with a phaneritic texture. The abundance of K-spar gives the rock a predominant pink to reddish hue; peppered with minor amounts of black minerals”  

“How Do Rocky Planets Really Form?” https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/how-do-rocky-planets-really-form#

(Maps on YouTube: Ron Blakely, designer, in Geoff Manaugh, “Assembling North America.” https://bldgblog.com/2006)

Jay McDaniel, “Panentheism: Twelve Metaphors.” https://www.openhorizons.org/panentheism-twelve-metaphors.html

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Transcript

If you visit me at the Bright Star Farm, you’ll see something amazing. The centerpiece of a Prayer Garden is a red granite rock, round and smooth, the size of a soccer ball. Dark streaks mark its surface amid hues of red. Just a rock, you might ask? No. This magnificent stone is a billion-year-old witness to the work of God. Sitting near it I am called to unite my  life with the universal energy of the Divine.

I’m Larry Payne, your host of the Tracks for the Journey Network. I’m dedicated to enhancing our spiritual, emotional, and relational well-being. Join me for a few minutes by my billion-year-old rock to explore how our connection to the timeless can help us in this moment. 

I often sit pause from doing some yardwork to sit beside the rock. It feels good to take a deep breath, stretch out my feet, and consider how it sits in a bed of white stones that contrast to the smooth, red-brown surface. The ancient Hebrew singers lifted a chant in Psalm 61, “From the end of the earth I call to you,
     when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock
     that is higher than I,
 3 for you are my refuge,
     a strong tower against the enemy.”

Prayer feels natural sitting close to the rock. It seems a connection to something greater, something timeless, something solid. In day and night, season after season, this rock has anchored reality on my property.

Where did this rock come from? Stay with me for a bit of history from geological science. My red granite rock was formed deep in the molten crust of the earth around 2 billion years ago. During a period around 300 million years ago the alkali feldspar granite rose beneath the Ancestral Rocky Mountains. Between 80 and 50 million years ago that granite emerged from the movement of a gigantic section of Earth’s crust called the Fallon Plate, which created the Southern Rocky Mountains of New Mexico. In the 50 million years since, my stone was pummeled by the forces of earthquakes, volcanos, glaciers, and erosion, finally washing down to rest in a mountain stream. Fast forward to the 20th century, where it was lifted out of that cool water and transported to Texas. What a journey! Now it’s been on my property for 20 years. Twenty years seems like a long time to me. But to put this in perspective, imagine my rock is 100 years old. In that shrunken timeframe, it would have been in my yard for a mere 30 seconds in that 100 year lifespan.

 Sometimes I sit beside my ancient friend, trying to wrap my head around its amazing journey. Christian panentheism teaches that God is active in every moment and entity of the universe, collaborating with the physical processes. Across billions of years, the Divine has offered to each physical process a template of possibilities. In some primordial sense, the elements of the universe responded to that creative energy, influenced but not controlled by God. Elements became stars, stars collected rings of gas, gas consolidated to became planets, planets evolved new forms of rocks and geography, and then my red granite friend appeared. This beautiful rock is a witness to God’s work across time and space to me, as just a newcomer to the sweep of time and space.

My rock connects me to the ecosystem of the planet. It may look silent and innert but it is alive, actually. Modern science has revealed the elements inside are throbbing with atomic motion and energy. This energy contributes to gravity, to the atmosphere, and—amazing—even to me. Panentheism teaches everything is connected within God, and God is in everything. Sensing my granite friend is through my five senses, of course, but also in a sense beyond those. Theologian Jay McDaniel expresses the truth in a metaphor, writing, “God is the energy of love that permeates the universe. Love is the fundamental force that connects all beings and sustains cosmic harmony. Just as energy flows through every aspect of existence, so does the energy of love flow through every corner of the universe. It is the unifying and transformative power that binds all entities together in a web of compassion and empathy.” Spending time with my red, hard friend opens a gateway of the soul to the interconnected universe. All of us are part of all of us. I could not exist without this rock, the tree next to it, the air I breath, the light that shines, the meadow that stretches across the property, or the gigantic aquafer beneath it. If I ignore all of this, I am imperiling my existence and my future.

My granite friend also speaks of purpose. This rock is doing what it was formed to do. For eons it anchored the crust of the earth. Later, it formed the bed of a rushing, mountain stream. On the surface now are billions of microscopic organisms linked in the web of life. This quiet testimony becomes a mirror to ask myself, “Am I doing what I was made to do?” That’s a big question for anyone, isn’t it? It asserts that I have a role to play in this time and place. It asserts that I have a choice, and one much more active than a granite rock. I can choose to pray, to care for others, to learn new skills, and above all, to love. I’m challenged to answer, “What will I do in this sliver of human time I am given?”

A final thought is of hope. God has sustained this rock for two billion years. I can believe God will sustain me through the billions of years ahead. Each moment the universe is evolving, and I am carried along with her. God is evolving, too, incorporating every change into God’s Self. Within that divine energy my rock and I will always exist in some way, sustained to become a part of what is yet to be. God, the rock, and I are woven together in a multidimensional fabric that will exist forever.  The unknown author of the book of Jude gives a voice to that hope, “To him who is able to keep you from falling and make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever.”

Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall—the granite stone has seen them all for millions of years. I hope I’m able to sit close to my rocky friend for 20 more years, at least. I have so much more to learn from this time-traveling messenger.