Trash on the Beach...

I moved into my own apartment here in Montevideo, Uruguay at the end of May. One of the perks of the place is that it's just around the corner from the beach and I have been enjoying many walks along the water. It's my favorite form of exercise AND it's also one of the moments in my day when I can really take time to draw close to God.

The city usually does a great job of keeping the beach clean but one day, after a strong storm the night before, the beach was "trashed" and I felt sad as I made my way through the plastic bags, bottles and other debris that was strewn across the sand. This wasn't what I had been looking forward to all day... and I found it hard to enjoy my walk.

We all long for the pristine beach... the kind we see in advertisements for the "perfect" vacation. We want the clean white sand, the shade of the tall palm trees, the radiant sun and the gentle breezes. We long for Eden...

The problem is we don't live there anymore...

And no matter how beautiful life can be, there are moments when we are confronted by the "trash" that it brings as well.

This rubbish can take on many forms - difficulties in our relationships, struggles financially or with employment, emotional turmoil, or physical illness and pain. Like trash-lined beaches, our lives don't look like what we desire and they're a far cry from the post-card version we dream about.  Sometimes we cause the havoc ourselves - either knowingly or unknowingly we make choices that bring with them negative consequences. We trash our own beaches.  At other times the garbage gets dumped on our doorstep through the choices and actions of others.

No matter where the trash comes from, it brings a dimension of pain and grief to our lives that can be hard for us to bear. Luckily, we're not obligated to just let it lay there and rot, however. When we have caused the destruction ourselves, we are invited by God to move into a place of repentance and take the necessary steps of forgiveness as He offers restoration to our broken places. And when others have caused the tumult, we are again invited to offer forgiveness as we choose how we will interact with these persons in the future.

In Romans 5:1-5 we are encouraged to endure suffering since it produces perseverance; perseverance produces character; and character produces hope. Perseverance is a challenging concept for many of us. We too often expect things to be handed to us on a silver platter without any effort or strain on our part. Perseverance implies sucking in your gut, pulling up your boot straps, holding your breath, and straining your muscles...

Yet personal integrity and an eventual life legacy can't be formed without perseverance. Romans 12:12 states that we are to "be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." These are character qualities that will see us through many of life's storms.

Perseverance and resilience are needed skills and attitudes but we don’t get very far just trying to “hold it all together”… that approach can lead to bitterness or a harsh view of life…

The word "hope" shows up 17 times in the book of Romans. It’s an important concept for us as Christians as we face the challenges of life. Without it, we risk becoming like dried up old prunes - enduring the heat but loosing our "juice".  But what is it that we place our hope in? That God will make everything easy for us? Some future good? Heaven? Are we just holding our breath?

"And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our  hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."  Romans 5:5

We place our hope in this – God LOVES us!!

In the midst of life – the joys and sorrows, the victories and the sufferings, the celebration and     the pain… we can know the hope of God’s love. We're not just holding our breath or "faking it till we make it." We are loved. And no matter what trash is lining our beach on any given day, this assurance helps us to find our way. God loves us. The trash doesn't have the last word.

Romans 8:35-39  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We are loved.

I received the following story from a friend - I don't know its origin but I like how it ends.

92YEAR OLD PREACHER

While watching a little TV on Sunday instead of going to church, I watched a Church in Atlanta honoring one of its senior pastors who had been retired many years. He was 92 at that time and I wondered why the Church even bothered to ask the old gentleman to preach at that age.

After a warm welcome, introduction of this speaker, and as the applause quieted down he rose from his high back chair and walked slowly, with great effort and a sliding gait to the podium. Without a note or written paper of any kind he placed both hands on the pulpit to steady himself and then quietly and slowly he began to speak... 

      

      'When I was asked to come here today and talk to you, your pastor asked me to tell you what was the greatest lesson ever learned in my 50 odd years of preaching. I thought about it for a few days and boiled it down to just one thing that made the most difference in my life and sustained me through all my trials. The one thing that I could always rely on when tears and heartbreak and pain and fear and sorrow paralyzed me.... the only thing that would comfort was this verse.........

 'Jesus loves me this I know. For the Bible tells me so.
 Little ones to Him belong, we are weak but He is strong.....
 Yes, Jesus loves me...

Yes, Jesus loves me...

Yes, Jesus loves me...

The Bible tells me so.'