I have been attracted to the ocean for as long as I can remember.
There is something about it that I am drawn to.
As a child, on family beach trips, there came a time when playing in the sand by the water no longer satisfied my desire for what I wanted my beach experience to be like.
I desired to jump in.
Although I did not consider the potential threats that awaited right beyond the shoreline.
Up until that day, I had not realized that there were things in the water that could cause me excruciating pain.
A few years later, I was carried away by a rip current that nearly caused myself and my mother to drown.
She wasn’t in the same place as me when the current overtook me, but she came to where I was at in an attempt to save me.
That day I learned that the ocean had the power to pull me away from the ones that I love and that my own strength was no match for its force.
Beyond the near death experiences or the painful collisions with creatures that call the ocean their home, there are also ramifications of being submerged in the water and then returning to dry land.
These don’t necessarily harm us, but they do cause us to experience discomfort.
Sand gets lodged in peculiar places.
Your skin becomes dry and tight.
Clothes that once were light in weight, become heavy and sticky.
The water seeps into your eyes and it burns, and onto your lips causing a bitter taste in your mouth.
Over the years, my attraction to the ocean has not ceased, but my desire to get in it, has.
I would rather appreciate the beauty of it and the force that it possesses from the safety of the shore.
Immaturity tells us to jump into any situation that we are attracted to.
Knowledge comes from experiences that cause pain and discomfort.
Ignorance tells us that although there are known risks, that we are not susceptible to them.
Wisdom is the ability to disarm the ignorance of our flesh and apply knowledge to situations to prevent further pain or discomfort.
Attraction is an appreciation of the beauty of something.
Desire is a decision to act on an attraction.
James chapter 1 tells us that we are tempted by our own desires. God created beautiful things, attractive things. Appreciating the beauty of what He has created is not the problem. Our own desires, or decisions is what lead us away from the safety of the shoreline.
When we decide to follow the lead of our own desires, we open ourselves up to collide with things that cause us and others excruciating pain. We allow ourselves to be carried away into the depths of the sea to a place that we can no longer stand on our own two feet because we can no longer reach the ground that is below us.
Original entry - February 6th, 2023
