Lessons From the Sea Part 1: Yellow Alert! When Life Toughens

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you..." Isaiah 43:3


We were warned. There was a yellow alert. The sea  was rough, angry, loud and raging. It whipped, uprooted, and took everything in its path including trees, and pillars

It took trees and pillars!

The waves crashed into the shore, depositing, eroding, and dragging resisting prey back into its depths before spitting some of them out on the sand; and the process was timelessly repeated. It spat out wood, shoes, shells, stone, glass and various other debris.

It spat out various debris

As I examined the deposits on the sand, it struck me that what it damaged was not destroyed, what it  destroyed was not anhilated, and what it anhilated was not forgotten.The things it appeared to damage, destroy or anhilate left beauty in the wake of the tough experiences encountered.   Dead mollusks left beautiful shells.  Eroded shells revealed intricate beautiful insides.  There was 'beauty in their brokenness'. 

Beauty in brokenness

Additionally, these shells also provided shelter and nutrients for various sea and land animals! 

Dear Reader, whatever is tossing you around and roughing you up right now, remember God promises, "...to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (Isaiah 61:3). Ernest Hemingway captures it nicely, "The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” May you also be strengthened at your broken places, not just for your own good, but also the good of others.


Up next: Lessons from the sea Part 2: Beautiful from a distance












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