Sitting ocean-side during the National Dance Alliance (NDA) Nationals in Daytona Beach, Florida can be more hectic than relaxing.
But, as I sat with my towel as the only thing separating my skin from the sandy shore, I was overcome with words and sentences and thoughts.
I began to write them feverishly using my handy Notes tab on my cell phone.
So, here is the accumulation of my thoughts from my most recent visit beach-side, put together all nice-like:
There is something so special about the ocean.
And that special something is not simply how vast, how deep and how wide the contents of water on the face of the earth happens to be.
Oh no, it is something much more… more of an eternal matter than merely a physical description.
It brings up a metaphor of God’s character unlike anything else in all of creation.
The power the ocean possesses, but holds back day after day with the tide is astonishing.
That is a picture of the Lord.
It is God personified.
How vast,
how deep,
how wide
is His love for me
and for you.
The ocean is a place no man is capable of discovering every nook and cranny.
I could say the same of God.
No man will ever understand all the complexities of God.
No man will ever fully understand how a perfect God can love such a sinful woman like me and like you.
No man will ever fully understand God in His entirety.
No man is able to explore each section of every body of water here on the earth.
Again, this is God personified.
When you first visit the ocean, the sound of the crashing waves blesses your ears.
But then, as time at the ocean continues, it becomes easier to tune out the sound of the waves.
It is the same way with God.
When we first experience the Lord; His no strings attached unconditional love and His never ending, ever giving grace, we are in love.
We are googly-eyed and mystified by His goodness.
But, as time wears on us, we so easily "tune out" and simply forget about Him in the hustle and bustle of our day-to-day routines.
How dare I forget the Maker of you and the Maker of me.
He has more power than we can comprehend, yet He gives, blesses and loves despite how absolutely wretched we are over and over again.
He extends grace again and again. Like the tides of the ocean, He reaches for us.
His reaching extends beyond our failures.
His arms extend beyond our sin.
He’s reaching for you.
He’s reaching for me.
How often do I ignore His constant reaching for my love?
A Father who longs for His daughter’s affection, but so often receives some (if any) as leftovers; as second best.
Basically, I am giving Him a solid sixty percent of my true affection.
How sad for a Father who has given His most precious cargo for His daughter, but she reacts as a total brat: upset when something does not go the way she thinks it should.
She throws a fit.
People look at children in stores crying because their parent will not buy them a certain toy.
How often am I that child?
My Father has given me everything I need, yet I question when I am not given something I want.
How selfish and how bratty of His daughter.
He reaches for us, like the tide desperately reaches for the shore.
The question remains:
Will we walk the shore-line tip toeing around the tide or will we step in?
