Waves of Life

We were blessed to spend our holiday this year staying very close to a beach. Every morning we would make the short walk down to the beach to see what the sea had done overnight. We would see if it had washed clean yesterday’s footprints, dug a deeper trench for the river to flow along, or brought up any more shells or drift-wood? Each morning the overall landscape looked the same, but always there were some subtle differences.

At the beginning of our stay, the beach was pretty predictable, with a gentle washing in and out of the tide. However, towards the end of our holiday, the wind had picked dramatically and the tide was at a high point.

The morning after the start of these dramatic tides we took our usual walk to the beach and were amazed at the vastness of the change to the landscape. The small gulley we once walked through to go to the next beach was now a long series of barely passable high rocks – hardly any sand to be seen in it. The river almost looked like part of the sea and there was an amazing amount of debris against the rocky headland, washed up by the ferocious tides.

It led me to thinking of this Scripture. Many of us long for God to come in power and perform a mighty and dramatic work in our lives. Yet, the daily washing goes unnoticed. It’s worth noting that the sand formation, the rock formation, the river formation… all that makes the beach what it is, is achieved through persistent and frequent tidal forces. The mighty tides that come in power and force merely unearth what has been forged through years of gentle and persistent movement.

Waiting only for the times when God moves powerfully in our lives doesn’t change the overall landscape of our lives. It’s the gentle, almost imperceptible, daily living of normal life that forges the landscape of our lives. It’s our choice how we live that life – with God at the centre or not.

We need to greet each day with a knowledge that God’s daily presence in our lives will transform us one day at a time, just as the tide transforms the landscape of a beach. Praise God that His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23) and that our lives are being forged into something more beautiful each and every day.

Prayer: Thank You, God, that You continue to transform me into what You want me to become. Help me not to disregard Your gentle but powerful forging of my life as I walk with You, one day at a time. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.