By: Donna Clark
For over thirty years, a small town in California, Imperial Beach, welcomed thousands of visitors from around the world to enjoy one weekend dedicated for their annual U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition. The beautiful sparkling blue waters were complimented by a shoreline filled with hundreds of competitors working their artistic talents in the sand. The crafters found themselves on the beach in the early morning, women and men using buckets, shovels, and straws to create mystical castles, cartoon characters, mythical creatures, and monuments. The sand was watered and packed as they shaped their designs. It was a labor of love which required amazing patience and detail. By the afternoon, the amazing sculptures were admired by visitors and judged by experts. Grand prizes were awarded to those most outstanding. But then came the tide and little by little those sculptures, so meticulously designed, were gradually washed away. Finally, all the grains of sand needed to build the beauties were washed back into the ocean, nothing left to be seen.
This event reminds me of words given us in Matthew 7:24-27. Storms are going to come. It doesn’t matter your social status, what your religious affiliation may be or how many hours a day you pray, it rains on the just and unjust (Matthew 5:45). If our lives are not planted on a firm foundation, we are destined to collapse, just as those remarkable sand sculptures. The amount of time, energy, and attention to detail did not stop the tide from rolling in and taking away all of it, neither will all of our energies and best efforts stop the storms from coming to our lives.
Those sand sculptures took all of one day to build. A fun time in the sun with a light breeze from the ocean. Not an ongoing effort, just a short span of time. Now think of building a brick home. It takes much effort on days that are beautiful and days that are not. It’s a process that includes blood, sweat, and tears. Not a one day, fun-in-the-sun event, it’s ongoing. Remember, once that house is built there is still the maintenance and upkeep to ensure the structure is kept at its best.
Think of the foundation that you are building for yourself and your family. A foundation that is secure and steady, the only one that can stand the storms of life. There is only one firm foundation that we can build our lives and dreams on and that is Jesus Christ. When you think you can’t forgive the spouse who betrayed you, the parent who abused you, or the child that broke your heart, remember that strong foundation will keep you standing through the darkest of times. When your faith is secure in Christ, you can keep working through the betrayal, the offense, and eventually love again like you’ve never been hurt. But that victory is never attainable in our own human effort and strength, it’s only by the firm foundation we build our lives on that this peace can be attained. It’s then that you can keep believing that God will pull you through when everything around you is crumbling. Then your family and friends see you holding on, standing strong, and determined to not be destroyed.
So, build the strong foundation. Turn off the distractions of this world, the media, the negative people and thoughts, and tune into the right things. Things that will give you a positive return for your effort, things like prayer, meditating on God’s word, being faithful in church attendance. Look at the true needs of others and invest in those less fortunate. Do these things now so that when the storms come to your home, your life, you will stand strong and finish well.
By: Donna Clark
