IGNITE: DAY 27

SCRIPTURE READING - DAY 27


Colossians 2:6-7

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus
as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,
rooted and built up in him, strengthened
in the faith as you were taught, and
overflowing with thankfulness. (TNIV)


MEDITATION BY Becca Rodgers


Pounding. Crashing. Relentless. I sit far back at the edge of my little stretch of beach and watch the waves.

They beat the shoreline, constantly changing and molding the long stretches of sand. Under their pressure, the landscape is ever turning and moving. Sometimes the waves are gentle and soothing, and other times their force is overpowering and raging with incredible strength.

Many people seek peace and solace in this place as they walk along the shoreline and touch the water’s edge daily, but few enter the waves. So often I am like these people. Even at God's invitation for intimacy, I do not enter the water because I don’t think the waves are worth the scars that come with building and strengthening against the sometimes gentle, sometimes terrifyingly painful shaping of God.

I watch as a woman limps past me weaving in and out of the waves. She is visibly scarred. Handicapped, one arm reaches crippled to the right while one knee will not bend. This broken woman reaches deep within to walk on the sand and in the water. She could spend her life begging to be made whole, never exposing her flaws to others. But she does not—she comes out of her house and courageously chooses the things that give her life. This woman, limping on the sand, enters the journey and the struggle, and she is breathtakingly beautiful.

A little girl comes to play in the water. This girl has a scar on her face, yet she captivates watchers as she giggles, reaches for her mother, and looks around at all who inhabit her stretch of beach. In high school, this girl will spend hours in the mirror covering her scar. She will hope, dream about, and pursue flawlessness. But for now she is free. All she needs is a glance from a stranger, and she pirouettes knowing that every eye is on her and she is the center of the world in that moment. Even the vast ocean loses attention when this little girl takes center stage. The scar that she carries makes her who she is, and she is breathtakingly beautiful.

As passersby looking at the waves, we know that God invites us to enter—not just to wade in the shallow water, but to allow him to completely engulf and shape us in the process. Yet we consider the cost too high. We have seen others scarred and bruised and we do not want to be so visibly broken, afraid of what the scars may do to us. But I want to be one of these beautifully scarred children of God. I don’t want to walk safely through my relationship with Christ, never encountering his shaping or carrying the mark of his correction. No matter the scars that I will carry, I want to enter the waves.

I am my Beloved’s, and his desire is for me.




REFLECTION


In picturing the image of water and waves, how is God speaking to you? What has he been saying to you within the past week?


What gentle waters or crashing waves has God used to build and strengthen you?


Are you willing to enter the waves and acquire scars? What steps do you need to take in response to his invitation for intimacy?