Grasping at sand

When I was a little girl, I loved playing with sand.  I could sit for hours, making big piles, little piles, random designs, sand castles....it didn't really matter what I was making, as long as I had my sand.  I would squish it between my toes, drizzle it over my clothes, or watch it trickle slowly between my fingers.  I know it sounds bizarre, but sand had almost become a part of me.

In a way, sand can be seen as an analogy for how we live our spiritual lives, too.  It represents everything that we love, everything that we want to keep - our dreams, our hopes, our desires, our futures.  It represents things that we love so dearly, that we're so desperate to keep, that we will do anything to not lose them.  And so we clench our fists tightly in a ball, determined to hold onto those things that have become so precious to us.

But what happened to me in the playground as a child, happens in the spiritual realm, as well.  The tighter you clench your fists in determination to hold on to what you treasure, the more of it you will lose.  We stand there, watching all of our hopes and dreams slowly trickling out of our clutching hands, and we wonder in frustration what we are doing wrong.

What we don't realize, or so often forget, is that God wants to give us the desires of our heart.  But first we have to give our desires up to Him.  He wants to give us a new life, a new body, a new spirit.  He wants to give us new dreams, a new future, even better than what we had envisioned for ourselves.  But first we must unclench our fists.  We must open our hands and give to God everything that we are so desperately trying to do on our own.  Only then can you truly live in the freedom and blessings that God wants to give you.  Before you do that, you're just grasping at sand.

Romans 8:1-13

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

Children of God

When I was little, I would draw all sorts of pictures and drawings for my parents.  I would bring them home and present them to them proudly, and they would just as proudly hang them on the refrigerator door or in another place of prominence.  And for years they hung there.  I remember as I got older, I would look at those silly little scribbles and wonder to myself, "Why do my parents still have that up there??  The older I got, the more I realized how ugly and worthless those drawings really were.

But my parents loved them because they loved me.  They didn't care how straight my lines were, or how well I colored in the lines; what they loved was that I had done it.  What a beautiful picture of how God loves us. 

So many times in my life I've thought to myself, "God, why have you chosen me to do this?  I'm no good at it.  I've failed so many times.  God, if I were You, I'd pick someone else.  Someone smarter, someone braver, someone better."  And God, in His enormous love, simply smiles and says, "But they're not you.  I want you, because I love you.  I don't care how badly you mess up.  I'll always be there to catch you.  You're my child and I love you.  Just let me have you."

Have you ever felt worthless?  Untalented, unloved, ugly?  Unequal to the task that God has given you to fulfill?  I want to assure you that you are not the only one.  Every other human being on the planet has felt the same way at one time or another.  But you are also not alone.  God is always there for you.  And ohhh, how He loves you.

Romans 8:14-17

 ¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.