*Five Minute Friday is an initiative set up by Lisa-Jo Baker over at Surprised by Motherhood. It has now been taken over by Kate over at Heading Home. The basic premise is to take the word Kate gives and write, non-stop for 5 minutes. Then you stop and post. Read more about it here. This October, I am taking part in a series based on this called “31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes”, in which we commit to writing from the prompt as usual, but everyday rather than just on a Friday. Read more here.
Wave
GO
It’s been a misty, rainy day here. The sea was choppy, painted with white foam as wave after wave came crashing in to shore.
It reminded me of some of the rockier ferry journeys we made over to England as children – the ones that made my stomach churn and yet somehow enthralled me, full of majesty and beauty and a sense of adventure that washed over me as the waves lapped at the boat.
The sea has always fascinated me. I find it beautiful and terrifying all at the same time. It’s so wonderful to behold, and yet it’s power is scary. It is awe-inspiring, in more ways than one.
There is something about being by the sea that makes me feel closer to God, and I think it is exactly this feeling. I watch the waves crashing and the foam spraying and I understand the phrase “the fear of God”. Because, as with the sea, I look at God and see both the beautiful and the majestic. The quiet stillness and the roaring waves.
God is Love. He is silent and beautiful and kind and compassionate. But He is also powerful and intense and dramatic.
He is our Father, both in the sense of the loving, peaceful parent, and the jealous, powerful Protector.
He is more powerful than I can ever imagine. And sometimes, I forget that. I’ve been reading my way through the Old Testament and am often reminded of it these days.
Because there are times when I need to remember His forgiveness, quietness and compassion. But there are also times I need to acknowledge His majesty and power and my complete lowliness and smallness before Him.
For He is God. And sometimes no other word will do to describe Him.
STOP
