I’m convinced that I could live at the beach without too much persuasion if I could only afford it. There’s just something peaceful and relaxing about the ocean waves and the beach and just sitting in a lounge chair all day soaking up the rays. In fact, I enjoy just walking on the beach along the water’s edge. I can walk for miles, it seems, and not get tired, just watching the children building sand-castle masterpieces.
I remember one trip to Daytona Beach, years ago, with my family, when I was maybe 10 or 11 years old. This was a family trip to the beach. My parents went, of course, but so did my grand-parents and my great Aunt. We all rented vacation cottages and were just having a blast. My Great-Aunt loved the beach. I mean, she loved the beach. Sun-up to sun-down, she was on the beach. This particular vacation, she decided it would be fun if I got up early one morning, along with her, so that we could walk down to the beach and watch the sun rising over the horizon. For some reason, this seemed rather exciting to me. I had never really gotten up at the crack of dawn just to see a sunrise, so I thought this would fun and something different. My great-Aunt kept talking everything up and telling my how beautiful the sunrise was, so my curiosity was peaked.
The great event was scheduled. My great-Aunt and I were to wake up at 5:00 AM the next morning, put on our swimsuits, and head to the beach. I couldn’t wait. I went off to bed and was so looking forward to waking up early the next morning. Unfortunately, I was so excited I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned all night long. To make matters worse, I didn’t have a clock in the room and I didn’t wear a watch, so I had no idea what time it really was as I was tossing and turning during the night. It seemed like an eternity. Everyone else was sound asleep, but all I could do was lay in bed and wait until my great-Aunt woke me up at 5:00 AM. I had no earthly idea how much longer that would be. Without a time-piece, I couldn’t tell if the time was 2:00 AM; 3:00 AM, or perhaps closing in on 5:00 AM. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in such a situation, but there is nothing more miserable than waiting in the bed for hours upon hours, knowing something exciting is just around the corner, but not knowing how much longer until the magic moment arrives.
Finally, 5:00 AM came and my great-Aunt woke me up right on schedule. We both got dressed and walked the short distance to the beach and waited. About 45 minutes later, we both witnessed the most beautiful sunrise I had ever seen or, in my case, probably the first sunrise I had ever witnessed. It was gorgeous. The wonderful yellows and oranges piercing the darkness and reflecting off the water was something I have never forgotten. The agony and misery I had experienced waiting the night before didn’t matter any more. It was all worth it.
I’ve learned over the years that our Christian Walk is very similar, especially when we go through trials and struggles. I think most of us, as Christians, believe that God will answer our prayers and work in our situations, we just don’t know when. It’s almost as if life itself is like the long night I experienced that time at the beach, without my timepiece. I knew the sunrise was coming. I just didn’t know how much longer during the night I had to wait for the time to arrive.
No matter what you may be experiencing now in life, you can have confidence that your “sunrise” is coming. It won’t be on your timing. It will be on God’s timing. You may be impatient and you may want God to act now; that is only natural. Just sit back, wait for the beauty of the sunrise and you’ll discover that there’s nothing as beautiful as God’s timing in your life.
