Waves

Tonight I spent a few moments walking the cold windy beaches of Utah Lake in between roasting hotdogs and playing with the Dutch oven. The strong wind created significant waves which flowed in all directions. I had pulled together 15 friends for a little party which was fun and light and quick due to the fierceness of the wind.

Wind creates waves. We felt the wind tonight and saw the waves in their perpetual chaotic beating and yet with a pattern against the rocky shoreline. Waves are what we call deterministic. Although the chaos seems complete to our eyes each wave is created by the energy of the wind and is moving purposefully to a specific spot. If we could measure the energy in the waves we could predict with precision exactly where the waves were heading. Their end is determined by their beginning.

When we stand on a rocky shoreline and stare into the chaos of waves we might feel like all is random. Water moves this way and that, splashing this rock and missing that one. We can stretch our hands into the firm push of the wind and wonder that there is any rhyme or reason to it.

As we watch and listen and feel we begin to see patterns in the waves and the winds.  The waves move with the wind, they follow each other and crash upon the shore in a similar fashion. Each one unique, yet all are the same.

We are all travelers in seas (or very large lakes) of wonder and trial. We are buffeted on every side. The wind blows and the sun sinks behind a cloud low on the horizon. Each of us experiences a unique version of the same earthly sojourn with a relentless wind pushing us towards an unseen shore.  It seems to us that the forces around us constantly drive us to some determined end.

And so would our fate be if not for one thing. We have been given a gift that the waves of the sea don’t have. We have the gift of choice. We choose which wind we follow. Through the power of he who would redeem us we can choose how we respond to the wind and the waves and the smoke and so determine for ourselves where we end up.  We cannot choose the winds or the waves that assail us, only how we react to them when they come.

I am straining my eyes in the smoke and wind and waves to see the distant shore. I can see wisps of green and warmth and peace divided from the shores of smoke and black and cold. My constant effort is to respond only to the wind that will bring me to the right shore. I rely on you to keep me in the right current and listening to the right wind for then I know I’ll meet you someday on God’s golden shore.