Sandcastles

"Never stop building your sandcastle." -Mike Howard

In one of my favorite Peanuts cartoons, Charlie Brown is building a sandcastle on the beach.  With eyes squinted and tongue sticking out, Charlie tediously toils away, forming towers and scraping sand with painstaking detail.  You get the feeling that this is a private matter, and a bigger issue is at stake.  Perhaps it is to be his own personal crowning achievement. 

After working tirelessly, Charlie Brown takes a step back to admire his handiwork.  Just as he is all set to take a picture of the masterpiece, a large wave rolls in and engulfs the artist and his creation, ruining everything.  Standing in the spot where his beautiful sandcastle once stood, with seaweed in his hair and a forlorn look on his face, Charlie Brown says, “I know there’s a lesson in this, but I’m not sure what it is.” 

At some point, every one of us has had our sandcastle ruined, our dreams destroyed, our hopes dashed.  Frequently when we are drowning in waves of adversity, we wind up gazing out into space with a forlorn look and asking, “What just happened?”  The people who benefit from these kinds of situations are the ones who turn them into “teachable moments.” 

When waves roll over us and destroy our dreams, it often reveals certain aspects of our character – like the strength of our faith or the level of our commitment.  However, the quality of our nature that undergoes maximum testing is the degree of our ability to learn and grow from our experiences.  I believe that we are more fulfilled when we are growing – spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually.  Studies show that people who live in a constant learning mode tend to be more content, as well as feeling more confident.

Conversely, most of the unhappy people I know quickly dismiss even the simplest challenge and steadfastly focus inward with their thoughts and actions.  People who live in this flatlined state for any length of time become like walking dead and sadly, they often don’t even realize it.  But the good news is, our attitude toward being open and teachable is largely a matter of choice. 

Life is a constant journey where we are either moving ahead or falling behind.  Rarely do we stay the same.  The writer of Hebrews discusses “spiritual babies, who still live on milk.” He encourages us to become “mature”, and “eat the solid food of the faith.”  (Hebrews 5:12-14) In the next chapter, the writer also admonishes us to “stop going over the same basic teachings.”  (Hebrews 6:1) He thinks it is important to move on in our faith, to keep climbing above the plateau where we might be tempted to stop.    

The Scriptures make it clear that growth is expected, but it doesn’t have to happen in leaps and bounds.  Even if it happens at a snail’s pace, it’s okay.  But the most important thing we can do is to keep learning, developing, and especially, to keep moving forward.   According to leadership guru, John Maxwell, “the highest reward for our toil is not what we get from it, but what we become by it.” 

My prayer this week is that no matter how many times they get washed away, we will never stop building our sandcastles. 

-Pastor Mike Howard