A 4600-mile trip from Colorado to California and North Dakota allowed some serious meditation on rocks. In other words, there were rocks in my head during long distances! I marveled at so many rock formations that finally an epiphany came, and I declared to my driver: “God certainly loves rocks! Everything on this trip seems dependent on them.”
Rocky Mountain Musings
Thoughts turned to diamonds becoming engagement rings, sand transformed into glass, precious minerals providing all kinds of scientific possibilities. Throughout the Rocky Mountains, trees grew exuberantly in rock wedges. Beautiful flowers produced bouquets in scarce mountain soil. Even the snowflakes over the mountain passes reminded that dirt particles are frosty little hearts. All our fruits and veggies come from soil, pummeled from rock. The deer and the antelope play and munch on the grass that grows from…dare I say it again?
Our Dust Comes from Rocks?
BFF and I listened to Bill Bryson’s cd book, A Short History of Nearly Everything. Bryson reminded us that even our dust spreads throughout the earth and mixes with everyone else’s dust. Maybe right now we are inhaling a little Albert Einstein or St. Anselm. Rocks and us. We just don’t give them enough credit.
The $150,000 Geode?
I dragged my BFF to the Rock Prospector near Utah’s Zion National Park. The ooh’s and aah’s in my subconscious were making the head spin. I picked through a colorful pile of agates to stockpile for granddaughters’ treasure hunt. This interesting rock geode (pictured below), is a discard from a titanium mine. It didn’t have a price tag, but the clerk declared $150,000, and no one blinked. But we exchanged our skepticism outside the door.
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- So I came home from this rocky trip with a bowl full of rocks and immediately made them a centerpiece. A $1 white quartz is to the right. But that wasn’t the end of it.
Gems, Minerals, and Rock Show
During the following week The Gazette announced the Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society was having the Pikes Peak Gem, Mineral, and Jewelry Show. For five dollars I could meet some very nice rock hounds. At the door I received the sponsor’s bulletin called Pick&Pack. The front page announced local high school senior Jenna Salvat’s topic for a monthly meeting: “Synthesis and Characterization of Piezoelectric ZmO Nanofilms for Potential Use as Electromechanical Seismic Sensing Material.” Yes, wow! Go Jenna! I just wanted to know how agates and geodes were formed.
The gem show’s venders had answers and beautiful rocks from across the U.S. and worldwide, running the gamut from serious collectors and jewelers to venders selling bargain jewelry from China. One artist that interested me was Johnny Krutzler and his “Enhancing the Stones” business. He was nice enough to let me take photos of animal skulls he transformed into sculptured pieces.
Black Light Rock Magic
The CSMS had a silent auction during the show for various specimens. I was the only bidder on a $1 sparkly quartz. While picking up my piece a pleasant CSMS gentleman patiently answered my questions. He borrowed a black flashlight from a rock neighbor and directed the light on some specimens. Look at the magic below!
Spiritual Rocks in My Head Thoughts
Of course my mind could not help but meander on spiritual craftsmanship. Our creator, laser focused, sees us in entirety, inside and out. He cuts the hardest heart as if its hard shell is only water. He can polish a stone until beauty glorifies and magnifies. From the rock Moses struck, endless water gushed out for thirsty Israelites. Our Lord declares in John 4:13 he offers living water that never ends. He said that if the people did not praise him the rocks would cry out the truth. Water sculpts rocks and transforms them into something extraordinary. Almost impossible, you think, eyeing the Grand Canyon, except the Creator is sculpting all the time.
P.S. At the gem show, one of the rock experts told me the $150,000 geode might sell for a few thousand dollars. Examining my photograph, he declared, “He just doesn’t want to sell it.”
