I’m home from our trip to California! {Mark & I}
We step across rocks the color of midnight and sand that seeps between our toes. Every few minutes my beautiful friend Dee pauses and points, “Look there’s a starfish!” or “I see a crab!”
I stare into the tide pools to discover a world all its own. Starfish the colors of sunset. Sea anemones opening up to wave their tiny fingers as if saying hello. Hermit crabs scuttling across the ocean floor on missions known only to them.
All of this exists all the time.
But we only see it at low tide.
I think of low tide times in my life–moments when it seemed the waves of joy were swept out to sea. I felt exposed, vulnerable, as if everyone could peer inside my heart and see exactly what was there. And I always assumed it was not beautiful.
But what if that isn’t true at all? What if in the moments of “low tide” in our lives God’s hidden work becomes most visible in us?
Dare to let someone look into your heart and see hope stretching out like starfish, sticky sides refusing to let go or give up.
Dare to let someone watch the closed spaces within you open in new ways that make everyone around you braver too–even if they never say so.
Dare to let someone catch a glimpse of your mission in this world and how small, awkward steps can lead to big, glorious things.
Yes, of course we want our hearts to stay hidden. We don’t like feeling exposed. We’re human, after all. But that is not how we live. We’re meant for a rhythm–a going out and coming in, filling and emptying, low and high tide. Joy and sorrow.
Hours later I stand at the edge of the beach and watch the waves crash. The space where I walked earlier has become invisible. But I know it’s there. When I close my eyes I can still picture it. It changes how I think of the ocean. It changes how I think of myself.
Don’t be afraid of low tide, my friend. It will not last forever. And the parts of your heart you’re afraid of having others see are more beautiful and full of wild grace than you can even imagine. While you sometimes wonder if you’re doing okay, the world just might be watching in wonder.
XOXO
Holley
p.s. Friends don’t let friends miss great deals like this: You’re Made for a God-sized Dream is 50% off at LifeWay for this week only. Woo-hoo! It would be a great summer read or fall study for you or a group. I’d love for my words to get to hang out with you and your peeps.
