When my wife and I were married in 1981 and went on our honeymoon we took a day trip to Peggy’s Cove in the Province of Nova Scotia and had the pleasure of talking with DeGarthe, a resident artist. He owned a small house along the rocky cliff of Peggy’s Cove and in fact in his backyard was this long jutting piece of rock, that we discovered him working at with a chisel. He was carving a masterpiece in his backyard. We talked with him on this occasion and a subsequent year when we returned to Peggy’s’ Cove. The sculpture was of the woman PEGGY for whom the area gets many legends and is named, and a boat filled with fishermen. DeGarthe showed us a hollowed out section of the work and explained he had left instructions that on his death he was to be cremated and the urn with his ashes was to be sealed in his masterpiece. Upon DeGarthe’s death, his wishes were carried out. The Nova Scotia Government passed legislation establishing the backyard of the DeGarthe home a Provincial Park-the reason being to preserve the masterpiece he had carved out of the stone, which was very large, in his backyard.
God works somewhat like DeGarthe, with one difference. The God that rolls away stone begins by dwelling within us, and he takes the chisel, and cuts away the stones in our lives that need to be removed, that God’s masterpiece in us may be seen. Sometimes he chisels away and in pain and anguish we submit and are convicted. Sometimes, he just pushes a great stone out of the way, and He moves in to fill the vacancy.