On our recent trip to Michigan, I was on a mission to find septarian nodules, also known as lightening stones. Here are a couple as found on a beach in SW Michigan. Would you have picked these up? If I didn’t know ahead of time what they were, I likely would have passed them by.

They are pretty nondescript. Not surprising since they are in fact, ancient mud balls!

But when they are cut open, you can clearly see the lightening.

As the mud balls dried, they cracked inside. Eventually these cracks were filled with calcite.

Here is another one I cut. First you see the outside.

And the inside after polishing.

I liked the red on this one, but there was almost no clue that there was anything at all inside.

But there was!

And one more. I didn’t take a before photo of this one, but I wish I had.

Here is the outside after polishing.

I am fascinated that a lowly mud ball, dried out and cracked, can turn into something so beautiful when the pure calcite is able to flow in, filling the cracks.

Isn’t that how we are? God takes a muddy , broken mess, fills it with His Spirit, and we become beautiful on the inside!

I wonder how often I only see the crusty outside of people and completely miss the beauty within.

So many lessons from rocks.

Have a great day!