Last night I shared about sitting in the sand, giving up on trying to fight the ongoing battle that comes with the stress of life. (The rest of this post will make a little more sense if you start by reading “And So I Sat.” Go ahead; I’ll wait here.) Sometimes we exhaust ourselves trying to fight the battles of life - battles that aren’t really ours to fight, but we sure do try. I shared about finding beauty, even in the sand that our tears can turn to mud.
This morning I spent some time talking to my dad. (I love that when I write, my parents always take time to read my posts - thanks, Mom and Dad!) My dad has this amazing way of speaking such truth in such simple and straightforward ways.
He told me he’d read my post about the sand and the mud and that what struck him was that there had to be something under that sand. The sand where we sit, the mud that is formed from our tears spilling onto the sand, that isn’t “the bottom layer”.
He said, “The sand and mud has to be on a foundation.”
And there it is. The profound truth, in just a few small words.
The sand on the ground - the literal sand on the ground - sits on the foundation of the earth.
The sand that we choose to sit down in, the mud that our tears produce, the filth that hopefully we can find some beauty in - it’s not the bottom.
It always sits on top of the foundation of the One who holds us in the palm of His hand.
The stuff life slings at us, the darts that land around us, the muck that tries to suck us under, all lands back on the foundation. So often I feel, when I’m in a struggle, that life is out to get me - whatever the particular struggle is at the time.
The arrows seem to fly in all directions, the hits seem to come from the left and the right.
No matter where we go, though, our feet keep us firmly planted on the foundation of the earth.
So, too, with our faith - when we feel knocked down, or like we’re running for cover, we need to remember that our faith should remain firmly planted on the foundation of Jesus Christ.
When we feel like giving up, or giving in, sometimes that really is the best choice because we can take our battle-weary souls back to the foundation and ask Him to give us rest.
When we remember our foundation, we can find rest.
And when we find rest, clear our head and anchor ourselves securely in the foundation, we can remember, quote, and claim this verse:
I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. -Psalm 27:13
Life doesn’t win. Our struggles don’t win. My younger son was reading in Revelation today, and commented that the end of the world didn’t seem as though it would be as horrible as he’d imagined. And no matter how hard it is, no matter how tough the things are that we’re going through, it’s not the end. I know it may seem like the end; I really do.
The truth is, the end is glorious. The ultimate end is filled with peace, worship and eternity. If we aren’t there, we aren’t at the end.
I don’t know what you’re going through, and you don’t know all that I’m going through. But I can promise you, this isn’t the end.
Whatever we’re going through, whatever our story, we can trust God to use it for His glory.
How can I help you on your journey? How can I help you decorate your mud-world while you sit and find rest in the foundation of our lives? I’m finding that sometimes, being a friend to others can help pass the time. It can shift the focus and the worry off of our own lives and onto someone else.
Pull up a seat in the dirt, cry and create some mud if you need to, and then work with the rest of us to create some beauty here in our brokenness. Here, on the foundation.
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