waves

The ocean is amazing to me. It is so big and strong. JP really loved it this year. It was a lot of fun for him. I took this picture of my mom trying to hold him up in the water..it wasn't easy. The current was so strong. JP was truly fearless. There were several times when mom and I were sitting in our beach chairs and JP took off towards the water. I sat watching him for a second thinking to myself that he would stop at some point and wait for me. He didn't. I had to literally run (that was a site) to the water to catch him before he went too far. He had no intention of stopping.

We spent what felt like hours jumping the waves. The majority of the time, JP was trying to get loose from my grip because he wanted to do it "all by himself." Naturally, as his mother, I was not going to allow that. I knew how big the ocean was. I knew how strong the current could be. I knew that at any time a wave that was much bigger than he was could knock him down and swallow him up. I was not letting go. Or so I thought. He kicked, screamed, and finally I said, "Fine, fall down...go ahead!! It's your choice." (Now, let me tell you that I never would have actually let go if he was in any REAL danger. We were in the very shallow part of the water at this point.) I let go of my baby's arm. What happened? The very next wave that came knocked him down on his little bottom and he got salt water up his nose and in his eyes. Now he screamed for a very different reason. I quickly rescued him and carried him up the beach back to our chairs. He got over it as soon as he saw that his nanny had vanilla wafers for him to eat!

The Holy Spirit spoke to me very clearly that day. God does the very same thing with us, as His children. We are in this big ocean called life. The waves are big and at times, the current is very strong. He is with us trying to hold our hands. We, however, being the super Christians that we are, don't need His hand. We can handle things. The waves don't always look that big from where we are. He's taller. He can see what's ahead. Don't you think we should hang on to Him? I don't know about you, but this world is too big for me. I need His help!

I'm not saying that the waves won't hurt. I'm not even saying that you won't get sand and salt in your eyes. God doesn't promise that hanging on to him will be painless. He just promises NOT to let us drown.