Pebble Beach

Bethany and I read a devotion the other night that talked about Pebble Beach in California. Here is a picture of that beach. It said how the surf pounds the pebbles and they rub up against each other making beautiful pebbles. Most people want to come to this beach and get a pebble to take home with them. It also said how if you go down the beach a little bit that there is a little cove full of pebbles. The only problem is that they are shielded from the pounding surf. So they are not as smooth and polished as the ones shown here. And nobody wants one of them.

We can be the pebbles that avoid the pounding of the surf but then we will never experience the smoothness and beauty that comes from the trials we experience in our everyday life. Trials are not something to run from they are something to walk through with Jesus Christ by our side so that we can become the beautiful creation that He created us to be.

Now when you think of pounding surf, or trials, they can come in all shapes and forms. Something that was made known to me yesterday is that other Christians can be used as the pounding surf. Most of us don't like to think about that. We try to avoid certain people because we don't agree with them or don't like the way they act. But those very things could be what we need to knock off some rough spots and polish us up a little more. As humans, we tend to run from what differs from our thoughts and opinions and take comfort in the familiar. We bring that mindsight into our walk with the Lord. But as Proverbs 27:17 says, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another," this is what it is all about. This process, if you know about the stiking of iron against iron, is not a pretty process. You can imagine the pain that would come from this if iron actually had feelings and could talk. He might avoid it all together and be happy being dull. But who wants to be dull? I don't. Sometimes my brain tells me I do so as to avoid struggles and trials but that is not what the Christian walk is about.

I am trying to see what I can learn from everyone I come in contact with. Even those that I don't agree with and struggle with. There is still something to learn from pressing in and not letting them dictate how I grow and don't grow. I choose to love them and continue to let Jesus Christ do the changes in me and them that He needs to do.

Lord, may I accept the pounding waves that come into my life to smooth and polish me. I can get through it with You. Amen.