Skipping Stones

Sshhhh…Sshhh…Sshhh. The ocean waves washed over the shore as rhythmically as an old grandmother’s rocking chair creaks back and forth. My student, his father, and I had stopped by the beach to launch their new dragon kite. While they were having fun watching the long-tailed creature soar into the sky, I ambled down to the water’s edge to skip stones across the waves. As I tossed the rocks, I tried to think of an analogy I could pull from the sea. I didn’t receive any fire-from-heaven revelations right then, but slowly an object lesson washed up on the shore of my mind.

Sometimes life throws us about pretty hard. There is an entire cornucopia of obstacles and difficulties that threaten to drown human beings each day. Financial ruin, spiritual depravity, broken homes, and loneliness are just a few. When these things happen, it can feel as though we, like a stone flung into the sea, have been hurled into a murky, watery darkness with no way out. Many of us simply give up in despair and let the undertow of depression drag us down. We wallow in our bitterness while the sands of self-pity ingrain in us the idea that “My circumstances have made me this way and I can never change or be happy again.”

However, this is not the case. When a stone is thrown in exactly the right way, it can actually skip across the water, appearing to defy the laws of nature. The lesson, I’m sure, is obvious. Though life may hurl us into the water and we may be faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles, we can by the grace of God be like a stone skipped across the sea and actually use the waves of hardship to make us better people. We don’t have to drown in our circumstances. We can choose whether or not we will be made bitter or better.

This is a popular topic. There is a plethora of quotes and clichés, speeches and songs that, in essence, tell us to make lemonade out of our cruddy produce. This advice can seem rather insensitive and difficult to swallow, especially if you’ve just been given a tough break. However, if you and I don’t make a deliberate choice to carry on, we will find ourselves in a watery prison of darkness and despair. But as we choose to bring our broken, shattered hearts and lives to Jesus, we will find true freedom and the ability to skip across the waves.

Now, for an agonizingly cliché appeal: what will you choose?