I still don’t know what He saw in me.

I was just another stone, a nondescript pebble in the midst of many similar stones scattered in the bottom of the brook.

I was not beautifully colored with intricate designs so as to capture anyone’s eye with my natural attractiveness.

I was not large, demanding attention by the sheer heft of my bulk.

No....I was just one chip off a rock, a simple singular stone of seemingly no significance.

Until....

until He saw me and picked me up and claimed me for His own.

He took me home with Him, and once there He put me among a number of other pebbles, some in their original form...

and others showing evidence that He had begun to work on them.

Those stones had begun to show potential beyond just being a shapeless, useless chunk of rock. It was obvious He had a purpose for them, and I began to wonder for the first time if He had a purpose for me, too.

And then....

then He began to work on me.

At first, I had no idea what He was trying to do. He clamped me firmly in place, restricting my freedom and yet putting me exactly where He wanted me. It was uncomfortable and yet I did not feel constricted.

Somehow, because I was in His control, I knew I would be all right.

He was deliberate, careful and intentional as He started to shape me. It was obvious He saw something in me that I didn’t...something that required that He chip away all of me that was not essential to His purposes.

And so, hammer and hardened chisel in hand, He began to fashion me, working from a vision and a blueprint that He had in His heart.

It was sometimes painful....

painful because I was so dull and there was so much of me that He didn’t need to fulfill His purpose. He hammered away at me at times,

with splinters and sparks flying in all directions.

There were times when I thought I’d break in a thousand pieces and not survive the process.

Yet...

yet He always knew where to apply the chisel of His purpose, always according to His blueprint and always with perfect timing.

There were times when things seemed exceedingly, excruciatingly slow.

He would take me and put me up against a grindstone and grind away at the rough edges. Sometimes He would use other stones like coarse sandpaper to do the job, and some rubbed the wrong way. It was tedious, but necessary for the transformation He had in mind.

I could tell He was willing to take the time to do the job right. Still, I wondered if He was really making any progress much less nearing a finished product. My sense of time and His timing were not always in sync. Now I know that His ways are much higher than my ways and infinitely better.

Slowly (and in my eyes miraculously) I began to see that the shape of His vision for me had become my shape in His hands.

The unnecessary parts were chipped away...

the rough edges made smooth,

the smooth edges honed until they became pointed and sharp.

It was then that at last I could see what He had seen in me all along.

I, the nondescript, insignificant pebble among many

had become a polished arrow, fit for His purposes.