Last weekend my two sons came home from Manila with their girlfriends in tow. With my daughter and her loved one, too, we spent a day in a Mactan beach resort. After a dip in the pool, the sea was enticing so I strolled towards it while my children hopped into jet skis for a 30-minute bashing with the wind and the waves.
I felt the sand between my toes, a bit hot for the soles of my feet but somehow its roughness felt good because it was a natural massager.
A little girl was digging into the sand with her plastic cup. Her playmate was busy fetching water from the sea to help her build a sand castle. But the inevitable happened. Her playmate poured more water than needed and the castle crumbled. The little girl let out a frustrated cry that brought her mother to the scene. For the next few minutes, everyone was trying to appease the girl and rebuild the sand castle.
My attention was riveted by the water poured by the little girl’s playmate. It was snaking down the beach and merged again with the bigger body of water. I filled my empty mineral water bottle and scooped some water. Backing off a bit, I poured the water from the bottle and watched how the water flowed back to its origin.
No matter where you pour water in the shoreline, it always find its way back to its source—the sea. And no matter how much water goes back to the sea, it will never be full. “Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full” (Ecclesiastes 1:7).
I started to introspect. We have so many dreams in life that we choose our own adventures to make them happen. We plan so much and try so darn hard, but how come we don’t feel satisfied and full?
We try to get rid of the water that ruins our sand castles. Well some of it may evaporate in the air, but from there, it also falls down as rain – back to the sea where it belongs.
So we work hard. But success doesn’t come. On the other hand, we may have wealth but when our health fails, we spend it to save our health, our life. We get married but eventually, our heart wanders away and we blame it on a stale relationship. We fight hard for a cause to the point of abandoning family, faith and respect, but can we sustain this conviction?
Our human frailty gives way. Like the water poured in the sand, we snake our way here and there. But eventually we give up and with hands in the air in surrender, where do we go? To whom do we run? Back to the big sea, the Main Source – God.
Is everything meaningless then? No. Where we are now and no matter who we are, He’s trying to tell us that the work we do, the treasures we gain, the fame we enjoy and the success we attain are all “under the sun” like the sand in the beach. There will be waters of trouble, anxiety and hardship that will drown our dreams, our sand castles. But life is still worthwhile because He created for a purpose.
He wants us to feel fulfilled but in the right direction. Sadly, we are so focused on our sand castles that we fail to see that the waters of failure and frustration that flood our dreams and efforts are actually bringing us back to the original Source of love, joy and strength – where everything belongs.
In Isaiah 55:1, God calls the weary, hungry and thirsty to “come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”
Jesus is the water that brings life to the soul. By drinking the living water one can live and never thirst again. Jesus is that Living Water. Anyone or anything will only wear out and leave the spirit thirsty again if the Living Water is there. Even the sand castle that crumbles can be built up again with water from the big source. Jesus is what our spirit needs to weather the challenges we face “under the sun”.
I snapped out of my reverie and reminded myself that I was at the beach to enjoy the time with my loved ones. I saw my sons and daughter get off their jet skis. I immediately got my camera to capture their tired but joyful faces. They are my treasures not my wealth, job or achievements.
And I know that my total fulfillment as a parent is when I can exemplify to them that this life is not all there is, and our purpose here is linked to eternity in Heaven. Together with the shifting sands of our lives, we must learn to always fear God and obey His commands. This is what will endure even if our sand castles crumble.
All that we possess and achieve in this world must flow back to the Main Source, the Living Water. This is what gives meaning to our lives.
He is where we all belong.