“Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:11–12 (NIV)
At Thanksgiving, we gathered friends and neighbors around an abundant table. The holiday provided a lot of bonding time with my kids, especially with my teenage son, because I put him in charge of decorating the table. He and I had a great time shopping for fabric, cheap glasses to use as vases, river rocks from the craft store. We gathered curly willow branches and fresh sage sprigs from the backyard, mini-pumpkins from the farm stand. My son went to work painting branches and pumpkins, arranging them precisely. His artistic talents dovetail with our family mission of hospitality.
We used river rocks as place cards, with each person’s name written on their rock. After dinner, we instructed each person to take their rock, and write on its smooth surface what they felt thankful for this Thanksgiving. Then, we went around the table and shared our thoughts.
We piled up the rocks, to create a sort of altar. I shared the story from 1 Samuel, where Samuel builds an altar and names it Ebenezer, which means “stone of help,” to commemorate how God had answered prayer and helped Israel in a key battle. (See 1 Samuel 7.)
Jesus is our rock. Jesus is our Ebenezer, our stone of help. He is the cornerstone, the very foundation of our faith, which we can lean on and trust. When we take a few moments to remember specific ways that He has helped us thus far, we build a little altar in our hearts. When faith wavers, we can look at the altar and be assured that He will help us again.
Faith step: Take a smooth stone and a permanent marker, and write a reminder of Jesus’ help on it. Put it somewhere you can see it each day.
