Roll Away The Stone

Lovely, light living is available to everyone, but when a stone blocks the light and love of our heart, we don’t experience this freedom. The stone blocks us from experiencing how lovely it feels to be connected to other people. 

One day in my quiet time, I pondered the story about Jesus who was laid in a tomb after his death by crucifixion on the cross. Three days later, an angel rolled away the stone that was at the entrance of his tomb, and his resurrected body once again walked on the earth.

I remembered back to the time when my children were little. I made an egg carton with various symbols of the Easter story that we inserted in 12 plastic eggs that could be opened as prompts to the story. The last egg was empty, and we would all cheer, “He is not here.  He is alive!”   

This same story is often a picture of human life as we know it. We go through many trials and persecutions, which can hide the love and light that we are and what other people are, too.  It can seem as if we are trapped in the darkness of a tomb. We feel dead and don’t want to be, so we fear and fight for our life. This fear becomes a stone in front of our life that hides our beauty from the world. 

Many have noticed this stone, sometimes referred to as our ego. The stone is there when we think that we need to protect ourselves. As a result of this fear, we activate thought processes that align with the danger that we perceive. These thoughts hide our true nature. We feel separated, alone and sometimes embarrassed or inadequate. Many times, greed, worry and insecurity distract us, and in our self-absorbent state, we can’t see and are not aware of how we are connected to each other and to the light. 

In other words, our life wants to grow from the inside out, being free to show light in beautiful colors and forms, but our ego blocks our light and love through our own human thought processes. Our ego is the stone that prevents our resurrected body from being free.  

Fear can be expressed in many ways. In my life, I was not sure why some people jumped to negative conclusions about me and why poisonous words came out of their mouths. Why did they yell accusatory remarks at me, especially when they did not have all the information needed to sanely assess me? What caused these responses and what were the triggers? Jealousy? Insecurity? Weakness? Confusion? 

Some people in my life have seemed to act like a dog who has backed itself into a corner, barking ferociously. No matter how I tried to coax these people out and to show them affection, as I would have petted a dog, they were too upset to receive it. Getting close to them usually resulted in an attack in which they lashed out, as though they pinned my neck to the ground, assuming a dominant position over me. They missed out on me and my love for them.  

We really can’t expect people to like us when we yell at them all the time, but over time, I have been able to see the people who yell at me as totally lovable. When I remember that they have placed a stone over their true nature, I can show them compassion. 

If you’ve ever dealt with a dog that is barking at you, you can understand this situation that sometimes arises with humans. We usually must love that person from a distance. We must leave that person alone, let them calm down and figure it out. It’s not our job to remove their stone.  

Brain pathways that humans make for perceived danger are meant for their protection, but this kind of thinking has often led to so much pain. Even the biggest, strongest dogs can get confused and back themselves into a psychological corner as they erect the equivalent of stone fortresses against others and the fear of being hurt. They hide behind the imaginary walls that they have built to surround themselves while the other dogs and puppies play. Everyone misses out on the presence, strength and personality of the one who has covered himself up with this kind of armor. And we all learn not to go close and not to try to please the one who has separated because it’s impossible to have a relationship with them until the stone is rolled away. We can love them just as they are, knowing the end of the book is not written yet.  

Families all have scenarios like this in their lineage. It takes one generation to break the pattern and not to pass the pain on to their children. I want to be that person and the best solution is for me to trust God to roll away stones from my own heart, so I’m ready to love when people open to me.