(originally written June 6)
Sand. There is a lot of it at the beach. Typically I love sand – the feel of it between my toes and how it gives my feet the best massage, not to mention how well it exfoliates. The clean up can be messy with three children – even frustrating, but overall it is so worth it.
My children enjoyed playing in the sand with their cousins. They dug holes, built castles and buried each other. Mackenzie mostly just ate the sand, despite my efforts to keep her from it. Sand is a great toy and we loved playing in it. While watching from a distance, I was reminded of something significant.
At one point my son was attempting to dig and build near the water where the waves were sweeping in to shore. Just as he would get a new gully emptied out, the water would crash in and fill it up, or wipe it out altogether. What I found so interesting as I looked on was, he just kept going. He didn’t move his position, but instead he was steadfast and kept digging, all the while the water was undoing all of his work. No matter what he did the outcome was the same.
Sand is shifty – it changes when water comes around. Of course I’m reminded of a story…
Matthew 7:24-27
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
There are many diversions in my life. Most of them are sand. I foolishly try to build my life on them, but in the end they are swept away.
Just when I think I’ve found something worthy to use as a foundation I find it useless, unsteady. A healthy lifestyle seems appropriate, until a young friend who is the picture of health is diagnosed with cancer. My family and my home are an easy place to begin, until I see another family torn apart by sin and divorce. They seem good, but they are really just sand.
The truth is this: the only foundation I can build on with confidence is Jesus Christ. In some ways it is so uncomfortable. I want to construct my life around tangible things, things that this world finds important. But those things that seem so right, are also the very things that can be altered by this world. No matter what I build, or how tightly I try to hold on, it will slip from my grasp in a moment. Only Jesus is a solid foundation.
“On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.”
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