Last week, my husband and I hiked up to the top of Stone Mountain, GA. The hike was beautiful – difficult in parts – but the view at the summit was totally worth it! Even though it was cloudy, we could still see all the way to downtown Atlanta. We also saw beautiful lakes and forests full of trees just beginning to turn colors. 
What I found most interesting, though, was what we saw growing along the way. It’s called “Stone Mountain” for a reason: It’s all stone! Pretty amazing, actually. In an area where the mountains are full of vegetation, this one is just pure rockface.
And yet….in random spots along the mountain, we saw vegetation. A shrub here, a tree there, little bits of grass and weeds. How were they even growing? This wasn’t just the “rocky soil” of the parable. It was actual rock! Yet, somehow, those trees and shrubs and bits of grass found something nourishing inside that rock, just enough to hang on to and grow from.
I thought of how the Christian life is like those plants. Many of us, in 2020 especially, have been placed on some “rocks”. And when that happens, our tendency is to shrivel up. There’s no water. No good soil. No food. Conditions are harsh and it isn’t fair and why did this have to happen…?
However, it is during times like this that we need to “grow up”. James talks about how trials can develop perseverance, strengthen our faith, give us hope. We do that by pushing past the difficulties and finding nourishment in Christ. We can choose to look around us and give up, or we can look beyond ourselves – to our Creator and Sustainer – and receive all that we need to thrive.
Circumstances may not be what we wish they were. There’s pain in so many places, on so many levels, and “normal” seems to be in the past tense and not the future. But our hope isn’t in what we can see. Our hope is in Christ. Our joy comes from Him, too, even in the difficult times. So, friends, if you’re feeling spiritually dry and hungry, know that there is hope and joy. We can grow, even in the most difficult of circumstances, if we only reach out!
James 1:2-4, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
