Beach Glass
I like beach glass a lot. I live about a 15 minute walk from the beach here in Ireland. It’s the beach Bono likes to walk on, cause it’s just down from his house.
But that’s not why I like beach glass.
I use to collect beach glass on the shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Erie. I kept it in a glass jar that had water in it. The vibrant colors of the beach glass are most brought out when in water.
You can find every color, shape and size. This always fascinated me, because I tried to imagine the type of bottle the piece had some from. At that young age I could never think of a glass bottle that was bright blue.
The main reason I always loved beach glass was because of the transformation that has to take place in order for it to come out the way it does! Sometimes you’ll be walking along the shore and you’ll find a piece partly done. Some of the edges have been smoothed, but others are still very rough. Throw that one back into the water and in a couple years it’ll come out smooth as can be.
I love how smooth the glass becomes. It’s amazing to think of the POWER of the waves crashing so hard for so long against a small piece of glass, rubbing it against stones and sand, slowly wearing away the sharp edges and rough surfaces, in order to produce a beautiful, smooth, refined piece of glass. The process takes years.
It’s incredibly how nature takes something that is man made and makes it even more beautiful than we ever could. It makes me think of what God does with us.
As soon as we come into the world we are thrown into the deep. The earth and all that is in it surrounds us. God is there too… if we decide for him he will throw us into a different sea, the sea of grace and his Spirit. It is here we are refined. We are pounded by the waves of hurt, frustration, let down… we are rubbed against the rocks of other people and hard situations… the rough sand of suffering, sorrow, and betrayal are the last to meet us as we endeavor to finally be tossed from the sea onto the shores of heaven.
Sometimes we get there before we are done, laying on the beach thinking we’ve made it. Though most of our soul may be refined, there is still a bit of work to be done. So Jesus throws us back into the sea.
We are a different color. Light shines through us. Even before we have been totally refined, we are learning to allow light to shine through us, and to love the fact we are such an amazingly different shape and color from the rocks around us.
… and wouldn’t it be a fun to think that when we are finally done, when Jesus finds us on the shores of heaven smooth and rounded, that he takes us and puts us into a stain glass window. We have a spot that is ready and waiting for us. There we can shine with the Son, with all those who have come before us!
But that’s not why I like beach glass.
I use to collect beach glass on the shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Erie. I kept it in a glass jar that had water in it. The vibrant colors of the beach glass are most brought out when in water.
You can find every color, shape and size. This always fascinated me, because I tried to imagine the type of bottle the piece had some from. At that young age I could never think of a glass bottle that was bright blue.
The main reason I always loved beach glass was because of the transformation that has to take place in order for it to come out the way it does! Sometimes you’ll be walking along the shore and you’ll find a piece partly done. Some of the edges have been smoothed, but others are still very rough. Throw that one back into the water and in a couple years it’ll come out smooth as can be.
I love how smooth the glass becomes. It’s amazing to think of the POWER of the waves crashing so hard for so long against a small piece of glass, rubbing it against stones and sand, slowly wearing away the sharp edges and rough surfaces, in order to produce a beautiful, smooth, refined piece of glass. The process takes years.
It’s incredibly how nature takes something that is man made and makes it even more beautiful than we ever could. It makes me think of what God does with us.
As soon as we come into the world we are thrown into the deep. The earth and all that is in it surrounds us. God is there too… if we decide for him he will throw us into a different sea, the sea of grace and his Spirit. It is here we are refined. We are pounded by the waves of hurt, frustration, let down… we are rubbed against the rocks of other people and hard situations… the rough sand of suffering, sorrow, and betrayal are the last to meet us as we endeavor to finally be tossed from the sea onto the shores of heaven.
Sometimes we get there before we are done, laying on the beach thinking we’ve made it. Though most of our soul may be refined, there is still a bit of work to be done. So Jesus throws us back into the sea.
We are a different color. Light shines through us. Even before we have been totally refined, we are learning to allow light to shine through us, and to love the fact we are such an amazingly different shape and color from the rocks around us.
… and wouldn’t it be a fun to think that when we are finally done, when Jesus finds us on the shores of heaven smooth and rounded, that he takes us and puts us into a stain glass window. We have a spot that is ready and waiting for us. There we can shine with the Son, with all those who have come before us!