I’ve loved rocks since I was a child. Don’t most kids? I guess after a while either they get bored with them, or someone says, “It’s just a rock,” and they quit looking. But some people never stop looking. I walk with my head down most of the time, scanning for small wonders: feathers, flowers, small bugs, Seeing Stones.

Where I live in Arkansas, there was once a giant inland sea. It’s wonderful, because nearly every rock you pick up has some bit of fossil. When you are small all of them are astounding, and you beg to keep every single one that has a fragmentary hairline of something on it. This is generally when parents put them in a pocket and hope the child has forgotten about it by the time they get home. After a time we tend become jaded, and often find such things too common to think on. But my family still loves rocks. We can’t walk a creek bank without sitting down to turn a few over. In this way we have found some truly amazing fossils.

But even even if you live in a place that has a dearth of fossils, there are Seeing Stones.These are stones where the persistent pressure of a drip, or tiny stream of water, has worn a hole all the way through the rock’s density. The length of time and sheer consistency needed to create the hole, the rock never shifting and the water never changing its path, are enough to deserve a moment of appreciation. But when you pick one up and hold it to your eye to look through, you may find something else entirely. The effect is of looking down the dark tunnel of a microscope; all things outside are obscured and the world narrows to a miniaturized point of view.

When I was young I read anything about Native American Indians. I was certain I was going to grow up and be one, living in a tee pee and riding my beautiful pony. I was blessed that no one told me otherwise. But this obsession entailed reading every single book I could find on the different tribes, their history, their lore. And one story that stuck with me was about a young boy who carried a Seeing Stone in his pouch. He believed that it clarified your vision, drawing your field of sight in so minutely that you were forced to pay real attention to small details that might otherwise escape you. He would often be in a situation and take out his stone to examine things more closely, and thus be able to make a better decision. I loved this idea and kept my own stone in my pouch, just for such occasions. 

In later years I was enthralled with European fairytales and legends. Seeing Stones also played a part there. Many of the cultures believed that a stone with a hole through it held a bit of magic, and if you peered through it at just the right moment it would allow you to see a fairy or elf as it went prancing by on its invisible way. You can imagine how often a Seeing Stone was glued to my eye after that! I admit that I never saw real evidence of magical beings, but I did see so much the was magical in nature. It is truly often the tiniest things that are the most incredibly detailed by God. On most days He is the only one that sees that the tiny flower of the weed called Henbit is exactly like an exotic orchid. Or admires the perfection of a Bluet the size of a peppercorn. But gazing through the aperture of a Seeing Stone can make you take intense notice of what is framed in the gap.

In one of the Arthurian legends, the knight Percival was given a Seeing Stone through with he could see and slay an invisible monster. In other folklore a person given a Seeing Stone could use to it see traps hidden to the eye and use it to gain access out of mazes. These stones are so intriguing that people have been wondering and dreaming about them since the beginning of time, as evidenced by ones found at Neolithic sites that had obviously been carried and held.

While all of that is fun to think on, the reality is just as amazing. That rock lay for many years being patiently worn through. You happened upon it and picked it up. And when you put it to your eye, the world is a little different than before. A little more clear, and little more focused. Even if it’s only for a moment, I find that a small and wonderful miracle.

The next time you and your kids go for a walk, keep your heads down. Look for traces of nature’s beauty at your feet. You might find a feather, or a fossil. Or might find a Seeing Stone and things suddenly look a little different!