just a thought… – Page 15

Breakfast on the Beach: Tasting Wisdom

Breakfast on the Beach Day 5, St. Simon Island, GA

With each encroaching wave, tide rolls in covering a narrow strip of sand. Six feet, earlier passing for beach in front of my cottage. Large black rocks and a short wooden staircase lead down to water’s edge. Surprisingly calm as oceans go, smaller waves lazily waft to jagged shore. Relaxing on a deck jutting out over water, I’m hypnotized by gentle splashes surrounding me.

Curiosity stirs questions… “Father God, what guided your mind as you formed the sea? Did your breath blow across a sheet of liquid glass to form waves? How did you arrive at this particular sound? Did you find as much joy in the resonance as I’m experiencing in this moment?”

Peaceful. Steady. Waves keep coming. No pounding for now—only soft rhythmic bliss repeating a song over and over.

I come before the Lord today seeking wisdom, knowing that the Word of God says wisdom was established before anything else…Wisdom says, “The Lord created me the beginning of his works. Before all else that he made, long ago…long before the earth itself. When there was no ocean, I was born.” Proverbs 8:22

God, before you saw your reflection in a mirror of still waters, before you breathed life into the ocean, before the first rustle of waves, Wisdom was fashioned at your side, each moment dancing. And you, oh Lord, delighted in it. You whispered in Wisdom, “Those who love me I love, those who search for me find me.” Proverbs 8:17

I am searching, I am asking…may I not only find wisdom but love wisdom. I have come to a point of jagged rocks on the shoreline of my life that refuses me passage through self-reliance. Lord use this experience to guide me safely over my personal narrow bridge into the vastness of your Presence where I may delight in Wisdom.

“For whosoever finds wisdom, finds life and favor of the Lord.” Proverbs 8:35

Breakfast on the Beach: Cleansing Tide

Breakfast on the Beach Day 4, St. Augustine, FL

Tides rose so high through the night, debris literally litters the beach…thousands of shells & fragments, seaweed in abundance, even occasional pieces of soggy driftwood strewn about. It’s as if the ocean heaved to dump sea refuse on the shore then receded to distance itself from the ensuing mess. If an alien landed on this beach at this moment, he might conclude that nothing good or useful comes out of the sea—only pollution that once served a purpose, now rendered useless.

How many times in my 40+ years of existence have I felt life relentlessly churn me, then spit me out much like the ocean & these broken shells? What once shone beautiful & meaningful, now lies reduced to rubbish with little or no value, mere remnants only the most vivid imagination could picture as lovely. Failed relationships, workplace tensions, ill-placed loyalties, wrong priorities, poor choices, missed opportunities…all waves in the ocean of life with tragic remains sprawled out onshore, scattered in pieces as painful reminders of my fallen state. My mind renders no reason to believe God could redeem anything from this mess. Yet the Bible says he gives “beauty for ashes” {Isaiah 61:3}…He exchanges rubble & ruin for temples of glory. His glory. In His time. Just as we cannot change tides’ timing, God’s purposes in our lives cannot be hurried.

Eventually tides swell once again, pulling debris out to sea, sweeping beachfronts clear. A forceful act of our Divine Creator wiping away all evidence of beach clutter, leaving nothing but pristine sand. How powerful the picture, how precious the reality of what Christ accomplished at Calvary. In one unselfish act of obedience to his Father, our Savior Jesus washed away life’s clutter, most notably the ugliness of sin and rebellion separating us from our loving God. Just as waves ebb & flow in constant replenishment & removal of seaweed, our redemption manifests in on-going exchange…our sins for his blood.

Averting my eyes from fragmented beach garbage, I follow waves in far off distance merging with endless horizon. This body of water harbors much more than sand and shells beneath my feet. True also of God’s purpose for our lives where beauty and deep riches remain hidden, unrealized while standing on this shore.

“…it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we will be like Him…” I John 3:2

Breakfast on the Beach: Fishing Naked

Day 3 Breakfast on the Beach…Jekyll Island, GA

Have you ever meditated on a passage of Scripture you’ve read dozens of times before when something “new” jumps out at you?

I love Simon Peter—what a maniac! Before today I’d never noticed this disciple fished naked. Read it yourself. John 21:7 says Simon Peter was out in a boat hauling in a massive catch after someone on the shore directed him to throw his net to the other side. When Peter realized it was resurrected Jesus on the shore, he grabbed his coat and wrapped it around him “for he had stripped”…Now there’s a spirit of adventure!

What keeps us from “fishing naked”? Rather than expose our true selves we seek to clothe our frail humanity in the trappings of life. We cover ourselves & impute style to our beings via our job, rank/position, bank account, education, intellect, possessions, sports, fitness, personality, fun fixes and yes, even our ministries and self-righteousness. Or we hide behind fig-leaf remedies of weed, pills, alcohol & inhalants. Do we truly believe any of these things can alter who we are at any given moment?

I ache to live my life with a Simon Peter kind of abandon…no, not streaking in public, at least not in the physical sense. But I imagine how different life might be if I braved completely baring myself heart & soul, stripping down, concealing nothing. How much more could God teach me, show me if everyday I willingly bare myself to Him? How much more could he use me in His Kingdom to bless others were I more transparent & stripped down before them?

Acknowledging nakedness—what we are not and what we do not possess—is the first step toward receiving God’s covering. Through the blood of Jesus Christ we are clothed in righteousness.

Lord, strip away all the funeral garb shrouding my heart, all that conceals me from the truth of my real self–just as you crafted me, all which robs me of vulnerability. Clothe me in You alone so that all that is seen of me is Jesus.