We walked along the beach, only a few souls ahead of us, while the sun was still creeping up over the horizon. As the ocean was breaking at our feet, a crab or two hurriedly scampered to bury itself in the shallow shelf of sand just below the water’s crest on the beach. I stopped every few steps to search out any signs of seashells or other oceanic treasures that I could take home as a reminder of our time at the beach.
Small white shells were not too hard to find at the edge of the water. From the depths and the darkness of the ocean’s journey, the tide deposited each one of them as if to say, “You’re safe now. Rest now. In the sun, you can glow now.”
At that moment of the day, the ocean looked rather calm – at least at the faraway glance. A few breaks in the waves at my feet and the turquoise blues faded one into the other painting for us the different depths of the ocean floor. It reminded me of Christ’s promises for our lives and how life can be likened to the enormity, the fury, the exquisiteness of the ocean.
Individually, we all carry shades of colors in our lives, in our hearts. The further out we go in life, the more we trust in the Lord and allow Him to use the fury of the waves and the currents, the deeper and richer we become and it becomes easier for others to see the difference between those of us with true faith and those without.
As we continued to walk, I picked up broken pieces, very large pieces of sand dollars. The ones I found were quite strong. A lone sand dollar SB found was small and delicate, and the moment he stooped to pick it up, it broke in his hand. I took it anyway.
Broken pieces of shells and sand dollars make their way to the water’s edge each day and night. Just like the Lord does for us, the ocean forms them, toughens them up, tosses them about and carries them to the shore.
As we continued our walk, I reflected on all the dreams, plans, and lost memories that have never even occurred and realized the ocean was a good place to drop my heartaches that tossed me endlessly, swelling and crashing and crushing my heart day in and day out. It was time for healing and purposefully stepping forward onto a path I suddenly realized had been cleared for me.
Many days and moments, our lives turn up to be broken pieces. Parts of us are fragile, while other parts are strong. And just when we think we can handle something on our own, or when we try to pick up the pieces and take charge of our lives, we realize it’s not ours to handle.
Each moment, each day is so fragile and one decision can shatter our dreams and change our lives as we’ve known it. Our safety comes, however, from the Father who safely delivers us to the shores of fertile grounds. We may be broken pieces at times, but we know His divine protection for us when we hear Him say, “You’re safe now. Rest now. In the Son, you can grow now.”
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