Pondering the Tide | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Pondering the Tide | Previous Challenge Entry
By Anngaylia O'Barr-Breedlove
07/07/05
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES

I have lived many places in my life but only recently within walking distance of a beach. At first I was disappointed that our beach is not sandy and clean swept. Barnacles cover the rocks, and driftwood lies helter-skelter. Then I learned to balance with a hiking stick and enjoy the smell of evergreen and water, borne by sea breeze and gentle rain.

The pulse of the tides fascinates. Each day we witness this drawing and coming in of great water. We must consult a tide table before leaving for our beach walks. Otherwise we risk, if not actually drowning, a slippery climb up crumbling cliffs to escape. For the tide, as the saying goes, waits for no one. And therein lies its fascination. No matter how the times of the tides might inconvenience us, we must abide by its immutable goings and comings.

I learn from my beach walks why we moderns so often forget God. We are not many of us farmers or fishers anymore, our lives and livelihoods directly bound to sun and rain, seasons and crops, tides and storms--forces we cannot control.

When we are hungry, we buy food at the grocery; when we want light, we flip the switch; when we want clothes, we shop at the mall. The temporary abundance of the industrialized world has fooled us into thinking that we are in control. We think we control our moral lives as well as our physical ones. We believe that we can do as we please.

Consequences of moral choices may not intrude so abruptly as consequences of physical ones. If we choose to walk along the beach during the inflowing tide despite the warning of the tide table, we soon will know the consequences. If we choose to serve mammon rather than God, we may be able to ignore the effects for many years, perhaps until eternity. God does not, as the story goes, always settle His accounts in October.

In my beach wanderings I consider the lessons of history, Biblical admonitions, my own choices and consequences over a lifetime. I ponder and become convinced that God's moral laws are as sure as the running and turning of the tide. After all, He created those laws, too.

PREVIOUS ENTRY | NEXT ENTRY
SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY FOR THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE

The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE

JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.