{my graphics are free goodies for you}
The sky is light blue like a debutante’s dress and the waves are rows of lace, spreading out in circles that drag across the sand. The ocean looks especially benevolent this morning with sea gulls circling like suitors. My friend and I join her crowd of admirers as we walk along a stretch of beach still damp from the last high tide. “So lovely,” I say.
We begin to talk of life and hearts and who we’re becoming. Two years of sunsets and phases of the moon and things washed ashore have passed since we’ve gotten to be together face-to-face. Last time I saw her I was in the middle of going-doing-trying-striving.
In only a few months I would find all those irons in the fire led to nowhere but burn out. My singed soul would retreat and my heart would think about hanging a “closed” sign on the door. In that place Jesus would find me and rescue me and I would unexpectedly write a book about living fully and loving bravely.
I’m still practicing the new truths I’ve learned. Sometimes I’m unsure and unsteady like the little girl we pass who’s trying out her cruiser bike for the first time, tires awkwardly tattooing the sand. And perhaps the truth that’s hardest of all is this one: I don’t have to hustle for my worth.
Being on this beautiful beach is bringing this to mind today. Because while I am on the beach I am not so many other places—on a stage, in a meeting, in front of a computer, nodding my head as I listen to someone in need. Here I am stripped, like a self-conscious woman slipping out of her swimsuit cover-up, barren of all my “goodness.”
Here I am simply Holley. Beloved daughter of the Maker of the Stars and the Tamer of the Waves. Cherished by the One who sees the dolphins playing tag in the deep and the sideways scuttle of the crab. Called by the God who understands the silence of the tight-lipped oysters and hears the squawk of the big-bellied pelican.
I say to my friend what keeps running through my mind, “What’s visible isn’t more valuable. People are more important than platform. Our worth doesn’t come from our works.”
I have to tell myself this every day because I forget. This morning the sea is my reminder because when I look at her I know all this again: I am infinitely small. I am infinitely known. I am thought of by the God who thought of all this—the water and the wind and the sand pipers.
And, most of all, our worth is not something we have to create. It comes always and only from the One who created us.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
– Psalm 139:14-18
XOXO
Holley Gerth
P.S. My 40th birthday is coming November 14th {woo-hoo!} and the gift I want most is for 40 little girls in poverty to grow up to be fiercehearted women. In other words, to know their worth and become all God created them to be. You can be part of this gift by sponsoring through Compassion International. {If you sponsor through this link, you’ll get a FREE copy of Fiercehearted! So fun!}
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Right now, we’re doing a special link-up series to celebrate Fiercehearted: Live Fully, Love Bravely. You’re a fiercehearted woman so I’m asking you to pour out a little love and courage with your words every Wednesday {the link-up goes live at 5:30am CST}. Simply write an encouraging blog post, especially if it’s about living fully and loving bravely, and then share it here. Don’t have a blog? You can still write an encouraging comment. If you’re reading this by email, go to holleygerth.com to see all the fun and join in too.
When you link up your post, take a moment to leave an encouraging comment on the one that’s linked up just before yours. Thanks, friends!
I’m having Coffee For Your Heart with my friend Holley Gerth!
{click to tweet that you’re joining me here today}
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