Where To Turn By Richard Evans He sat there in the sand watching the waves lap the shore. The eastern sky was just letting go of the dark night and had a faint glow that reflected flat and gray on the approaching waves. He saw the waves coming one after another in an endless train and felt that each one was bringing another problem, another trial, another opportunity… to fail. His face was somber; his eyes were dull; and his mind was filled with foreboding thoughts. His hopes and dreams seemed to be drifting farther and farther away, just as the tide that was ebbing and leaving him there on the beach more and more alone. At that moment he felt it more vividly than ever. He was lost, alone, overwhelmed, and the thought depressed him. He didn’t know where to turn. He hated what he felt inside and felt powerless to do anything that would make a difference. He closed his eyes and considered just giving up. The faint light glowed even through his closed eyelids. He forced his eyes open and stared numbly at it. The dawning of another day should have given him hope but today it didn’t. He knew he’d face just another day filled with more of the same old things. There was a sparkle in front of him near the water’s edge. It repeated several times before he decided to pay attention to it. The sunlight caught a small imperfection right where the receding tide moistened the white sands. He slowly stood up and walked tentatively toward the ill-defined shape that lay partly buried in the sand. The sun was climbing perceptibly higher and the day was getting brighter. He reached the water’s edge and looked down at what lay half-buried in the wet sand. It was a starfish. Four of the arms were perfectly formed but the fifth was blunted, shorter, somehow irregular. The flaw intrigued him and he slowly remembered about the starfish. They could be injured. They could be hurt. They could even lose one of their arms and it would regenerate, regrow, and before long the starfish was whole again, good as new, just as perfect as when it was brand new. The memory gave him hope. He sat down beside it and watched it with a sense of wonder. A smile slowly traced its way across his face as he contemplated it all. God created the starfish realizing that it would be hurt and injured, realizing that it would sometimes lose a vital part of itself, and He gave it the power to be reborn and made new. That very same God created man in His own image, the crowning glory of all creation. He knew we would face trials, tribulations, failure, and loss. He knew we too would sometimes see our very spirit crippled and hurt. We too would need to have a way to repair and regenerate that spirit. Two thousand years ago He sent us the Answer. The sun caught his eyes again and he was reminded of the “light of the world”, the Son of God. He had known it for a long time but the stresses of life had sometimes hidden the truth. Jesus is our chance to repair a damaged soul. He can heal even our broken lives. He is our chance to be reborn and made new. The world will always give us trials. We will always face troubled and disappointing times. There will be obstacles that we face that cause us to stumble and fall. There are days we may feel that we’ve been washed up on some deserted beach, flawed, alone, and half buried in the sand. The joy is that the new day will dawn and that God will be there with us, beside us, filled with wonder, overflowing with love, and ready to make us whole again if we will only ask. He can make us new and fill our heart and soul with love, joy, and peace. Sunlight sparkled on the approaching waves that danced and played on the white sand beach. He walked purposefully along the shoreline and prayed silently to the God of all creation. He’d felt compelled to get away and spend some time sitting on the beach thinking about Who and what was really important. It had taken those quiet moments alone to help him put things right. Now he remembered where to turn when the world threatened to overwhelm him. Now he knew Who to seek when he felt alone and powerless. More important than that, he remembered Who to turn to when the sunlight sparkles on the white sands, when the world seems fresh and clean, when gentle breezes caress us and touch our heart with joy, and when we know that God is in heaven and everything is right with the world.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 05:57:41 +0000
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