Gratitude Stone

Sitting in the back corner of the bus earlier this week, I heard something drop on the floor near my feet as we braked for a stop. Looking down, I saw a small round pumice stone, like the kind that sometimes appears in the pockets of brand new jeans. Just underneath the stone lay a dime. So that made it seem worthwhile to bend over and pick up both off the floor of the bus.

Evidently the stone had been sitting on the shelf just next to my seat and had rolled off.

As I examined the stone, a guy sitting in the same back row at the opposite corner said to me, "Did you just find that stone?"

Replying in the affirmative, I wondered if it was "his stone" or something. However, he simply said,

"You should keep it as a 'Gratitude Stone'. Rub it every time you feel gratitude for something. I mean, you just found it out of nowhere, right?"

Inside I was thinking "what a crazy idea" but I thanked him for the idea and put the little round rock in my pocket.

He went back to reading his book. He looked like he might have been a recent high school graduate, or just starting college.

Almost immediately afterward I regretted not saying to him something like "When I feel gratitude I pray to Jehovah God". Not prepared to "be a witness all the time" just like our Service Meeting part this week!

Ahh... however, I'm ready now, and I hope to see him again on the bus. If he asks me if I still have the stone, I'll pull it out, show it to him, and ask him more about the origin of his philosophy. Then I'll tell him my habit of praying to Jehovah when I feel gratitude for something.  Who knows where the conversation will go from there.

ps.  My favorite point from the Kingdom Ministry part this week (which we had last night, a couple days after my Monday experience) is that we don't have to start a conversation with a scriptural point.  Jesus didn't when he met the Samaritan woman at the well.  He just simply asked her for a drink.