….if you want to understand “bones” as “works,” know then that the works of the unrighteous are as smoke, and the works of the righteous are powerful and as lasting as hard bones. Not even one righteous deed will fade away or disappear in the course of time. God knows them and God watches over them, so that He may reveal them like precious pearls before the assembly of angels and men on that Day.
O All-seeing Lord, Master and Protector of the righteous, multiply our righteous deeds by Thy Holy Spirit, without whom nothing good can be done; and save us by Thy mercy, not according to our deeds.
–St Nikolai Velimirovic The Prologue of Ohrid
Gladsome Lights 
Like everything you post it takes deep thoughts to get to the meat of the matter. 🙂
LikeLike
May God so have mercy!
LikeLike
Amen
LikeLike
Gretchen, I need to swallow these words and make them my own; today is rough. The isolation, cold, chores and I ate four cookies which is the immediate cause of my bad mood…too much sugar…that’s about as much sugar as I have in a month -lam-.
LikeLike
Amen, Thank-you for sharing this, Gretchen.
LikeLike
A good word! Thanks, Gretchen. 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you, GJ!! These words are comforting to me as I raise my children (or have raised them), and wonder if my works in their lives are smoke, fading, lacking influence at all. These words are comforting
LikeLike
I’ve never thought of good works as hard bones, but yes. Hopefully those works have built strong structures in my family and they can flesh out the rest.
LikeLike
That’s a helpful way of expanding the metaphor.
LikeLike