Like Sands Through the Hour Glass...

Like many people one of my favorite vacation spots is the beach. In my younger years it was all about the sand and sun - but these days I'm not particular about the time of year - in fact, I like it best when it's a little on the chilly side and there are fewer people. I go for the waves and the wind and the palette of the sunset or sunrise.

As a family outing it's always a blast because there is so much to do - hit the boardwalk, eat out, play in the ocean.One year the whole family bought roller blades. We all took one lesson from the salesman who sold them to us and off we went - disaster on wheels, but a great 'funniest videos' moment or two! We've rented tandem bikes and flown kites and played frisbee. We've also built a sand castle or two.

Walking down the beach we were always sure to find some 'sand artist' that was doing much fancier castles and moats than we were. And then one year we ran into this...

Pretty amazing. In detail and content. And it got me to thinking.

The ordinary turned extraordinary - a plastic shovel and a pail - and a lot of effort - turned something everyday into something people would stop and look at - and view an eternal message. And I wondered - am I living my life like that? You know, finding the eternal in the temporal, the extraordinary in the ordinary, the profound in the simple. Day by day as I am going about living my life - am I bearing an image of what Jesus is like?

I've always had big dreams - you know, 'I'll travel the world with my dad and our family and we'll never stop' or 'I'll be a great equestrian and do three day eventing' (elementary school days) 'I'll be a famous artist and live on the southern coast of France' (high school) 'I'll have an exciting career and visit all the major cities of the world' (college) and later in life, 'I'll become a famous author and my books will impact hundreds of lives.'

Now my dreams are less flamboyant but more fantastic - I want to be like that sand, which in the hand of the artist, became an incredible work of art. I want my Creator to take my life and make it uncommon, exceptional, and as brilliant as a rare gem - not because I am any of those things, but because I serve a God who can take the 'foolish things' (1 Cor. 12:27) of this world like me - and use them to confound the wise!

I want to live my ordinary life in an extraordinary way that brings honor and glory to my King.

All for Him,

Missy