As you may have already read, my good friend Larry lost his battle with cancer last Monday.  On Saturday my husband and I went the his “Celebration of life” ceremony since Larry was pretty adamant about not having a funeral (that’s just the type of person he was.)  It was a beautiful service and a wonderful tribute to Larry.  There came a part of the service where the pastor told the story about Larry and a rock.  You see there was a church service they attended 6 years ago and the pastor handed a basket of rocks through the congregation and told them, without looking, to choose a rock.  On that rock was a word and that word was a gift from God and that this is what that person needed most in their life. Larry got “patience.”  He carried that rock with him at all times for 6 years, even after the word had long since faded away, and it was with him when he died.   Oh gosh what a powerful thought!!  That day the pastor had another basket of rocks and invited the attendees to come and choose a gift from God.  Mine was “HOPE.”