Hope Among the Leftovers

Lord Jesus--Useless things...drift wood and sea shells washed up on the sand.  Being at the shore always puts me in a reflective mood.  Maybe it is the sound of the waves or maybe it is the way that the wind and the sea come together with a kind of  grace  that reminds me of You.  All these are are useless things.  Washed up on the sea shore in this case on the side of a OBX in North Carolina vacation land for those too tired or too cheap to make it to Florida.

 

I am not sure why they reminded me of you as I walked along with Jason, Sarah, Maddie and Jenny on the side of the Atlantic.  It was a tree that must have had roots somewhere in the Carolinas at one time or another.  Now it found itself on the side of the ocean within sound of the waves.

The thought grabbed me that there was a rugged beauty in these things that in one sense were useless and just a bit of float-some on the side of the eastern edge of America. You watched this tree grow with its roots deep in the soil of some wind swept beach front.  You watched and its life was known to you from sapling to wind storm that brought it to this place.  It's journey to this place was known to you, Lord Jesus. 

 Lord Jesus--As these thoughts were ruminating in my brain, they were pushed aside by the sights and sounds of the people who were walking up and down the beach...each of them much like these shells and drift wood driven along by forces which are out of their control.  I met a dog named Winston whose owner's name I never caught.   But Winston loved to play catch the ball on the side of the ocean as he danced in the ocean waves.

So where do these thought leave me?
 
Psalm 147:11 (NIV)

11 the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.

Those who put you in a place of awe and who trust in your unfailing love are your delight.  There are no leftovers...no useless things of beauty in your economy.  You know then all and see the beauty which one day will be restored...in a way that will honor the past and will redeem it.