Living Stones

by Ralph I. Tilley 

"As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him--
you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood,
offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
--1 Peter 2:4-5 (NIV)

"This world is a great sculptor's shop. We are the statues and there is a rumor going round
the shopthat some of us are some day going to come to life."
 --C.S. Lewis, The Joyful Christian, p. 41.

A room filled with statues:
   all uniquely beautiful,
      chiseled and hammered—
         made out of stone. 

There were ears and eyes,
   hands and feet.
      But they had no sight;
         they did not feel or walk. 

They were cold and lifeless stones;
   they could not respond.
      Void of love and devotion
         they stared, merely stared. 

Then without notice
   there came a gentle Wind blowing.
      The stones became warm;
         they could now hear and see. 

Walking out of the room
   into the loving embrace
      of their Sculptor,
         they cried, "Father!"