Waves, Currents, Purpose

After one more month into each year, we become less and less aware of how time goes past. It’s easy to linger into the movement of all that’s happening and just be whizzed along with the current. In the ocean of what was, what could be, and how you should be, it is easy to accept that this is all there is. But this constant buzz of voices rolling over you is not anchoring you, in fact it’s making you forget why you started.

We need to remember that the years spent in preparation are just as important as the years when you’re sent out. I’ve heard many people say that these seasons (like my twenties) were the years that shaped them, where they learned about God, and what matters in life, and got the badges that they still carry with them today. 

The seasons that feel in-between are where God’s truth is written on our hearts. We’re like the deepest currents in the ocean when we are in these seasons. Oftentimes someone else will come along and try to comfort you, they will get into a boat and sail to you- telling you where to go, trying to get you to board their ship. The old saying goes “the road to hell was paved with good intentions”. The problem is that perhaps you were not made to board a ship. ‘If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, you will always believe that it is stupid’. 

So instead of boarding your ship and going into other people’s spaces, telling them who or what to be- let’s help them see the value that’s already there. Michelangelo said he doesn’t carve an angel into a rock, he carves everything that is not part of the angel away- until he can set it free. Are you listening to outside voices? – or the voices of people walking the same path? (It’s more difficult to believe without belonging.) May we be the people who help others to see the angel in what seems like rock – may we know them, may we experience them, may we be them. 

Like the ocean’s tide, He pulls us in every time, restores our hope, nurtures our hearts – and then we are sent out again. Blessed to be a blessing. Comforted to comfort others. Do not let the outside voices determine where you’re going, follow the thunder of the waves towards your destiny. Who knows, you might even be part of a bioluminescent show. 

After all, I hope that we become like the deepest currents in the ocean that do not rush to shore right away. My hope is that we see the value of being a little lost, or feeling in-between. These are the struggles that are preparing us for what’s to come, where our roots grow – and more importantly, these are the moments that will be engraved into our memories so that we can find our way back home – in the beauty of the deepest, undiscovered waters.

PS56:14 “So now I can walk in Your presence, O Lord, in Your life-giving light”. 

(written in 2019, April)