Cornerstones

Luke 20:17-19

         Cornerstones

          But he looked at them and said, ‘What then does this text mean:
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”?^*
Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.’ When the scribes and chief priests realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people.

          So, you're in a hurry, driving merrily along. Well, actually you're driving along not so merrily. You're in a hurry and then it happens. You miss your exit, you forget to stop here or there. No disaster, you can turn around up ahead.

          I think of scenarios like this because they happen to us all the time and I think they hold some real meaning for our life journey. They can say powerful things to us.

          I am an avid fan of The Amazing Race. I watch along with everyone else as the couples navigate a course having to watch for clues and paying strict attention. Hilarity (or disaster!) ensues when a couple misreads something, fails to see the clue they absolutely have to see.  Whatever it is they are missing, consider that the cornerstone. If they don't get that first piece right, everything that follows is for naught.

         One more example for today.  We all know the dynamics of high school. Two major groups are jocks and geeks. It used to be the geeks were always at the bottom of the barrel in everything - except grades.  The geeks are often the ones overlooked and dismissed by whole groups of students. Now what's the story? Bill Gates (the geek) is the one laughing. That's the new dynamic. Geeks rule. Bill Gates is just the most notable example.

            If not cornerstones by pure definition, I am trying to point out things, people,  that we overlook and dismiss. When we do our lives are poorer for it. In fact, our lives are diminished and we often are headed off in the right direction. 

           I often point out the fact that 'God don't make junk'. That God creates each of us unique, special and out of total love. We should respect ourselves, love ourselves for who we are. We also need to realize that God made everyone else in their own unique way and that they are loved too. I would repeat that God loves 'them' at least as much as God loves us.

            Try not to overlok the cornerstones in our lives. Let us not be dismissive of people we find weird, not in step with our journey or even with our own values. We have an obligation to try to understand our brothers because God created them too and with good reason. If we do not, our lives are poorer for it.