Something New
Last fall, I visited a new-to-me beach with a dear friend. It was amazing - long and wide, oyster beds rising from the sandy expanse, shallow tide pools and many shorebirds I’d never seen. It was like walking into a place that’s never been disturbed.
In my bag, I collected several shells and a small, beautiful piece of driftwood.
Now, as I turn the driftwood over in my hands, I am reminded that this small piece of wood has a story. It likely started out as a tree or bush somewhere, deep roots extending into the ground.
But then, at some particular moment, its natural life was interrupted and it broke away - from trimming or termites, a storm or a drought.
And in this consequential moment, it became something else - it was “adrift” and at the mercy of the elements. It was washed toward the ocean where it came in contact with sand and salt.
Every chip, every fracture appeared from a place of roughness.
Weathered. Rugged. Raw and wild.
Weathering happens to us, too.
We thought our sturdiness was reliable and our deep roots would surely keep us from being shaken - but then we are shaken, and all at once we find ourselves at the mercy of wind and waves. They are suddenly carrying us to places unknown. And we have no power to stop.
These experiences have a way of chipping away at us, producing sharp edges and often inflicting wounds.
But the journey of the driftwood is not complete. Little by little, over days and weeks and years, the elements smooth the wood and it regains its value in a new way.
Like driftwood in the sea, God uses His love to soften the rough places. He gently heals the hurt. He shapes and forms us into a new thing. Something good and valuable.
Wherever you find yourself today, you can trust His smoothing process, no matter how hard the present weathering feels.
Know for certain that we are never really at the mercy of the wind and the waves. We are held by our Father, our Creator. His love will carry us through.
We are not lost at sea - we are becoming precious driftwood in His hands.
Something New
Make something new of me, Lord,
for You are my Creator,
I, Your creation.
I am often adrift -
the sea carries me
to a place I do not know.
But You are my Anchor:
You are shaping and molding,
pressing and pulling,
sanding and buffing.
I am Yours.
And I trust that You
are
making
something
new.
~NDH
___________
“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.”
Isaiah 43:19 NIV
Today is a GOOD day!
Natalie