“I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.” Psalm 119:32 (NIV)
Since moving to North Carolina nearly 13 years ago, this midwestern girl has found a new love. Besides my wonderful hubby, this part of the country has introduced me one of its most fabulous features…the sandy beaches of both North and South Carolina. I admit that I have fallen for the smells of salty seawater, soft sand and cool breezes at night. I am in love with the mighty crash of the ocean waves, sometimes gently beckoning all in its sight to come and play…sometimes charging with the ferocity of a bull to a red cape, daring anyone to come a step closer. Either way, the beach has made its mark on me.
One of the things I love the most about the beach is the sense of freedom I feel when I approach the water. Sweet freedom. Take my shoes off and run freedom. Almost sheer abandoned freedom. And for a non-spontaneous soul as myself, that is no small thing.
I think other people must share my feelings, as I have observed quite a few beach goers running toward the waves the minute they step foot on the sand beneath them. It’s almost as if, in that moment, they want the ocean to swallow them up in an act of ultimate freedom. Freedom from work concerns. Freedom from health crises. Freedom from relationship woes. Ahhh…to experience such sweet freedom, if only for a moment.
There is a song I love that we sing often in church that echoes this sentiment. It’s entitled, I Am Free, and its lyrics are simple and yet, powerful and hold great significance for the beach lover in me.
I am free to run…
I am free to dance…
I am free to live for you…
I am free…
Yes I am free…
While the beach certainly provides such freedom to run (and maybe even, in my most playful moods…to dance) for a moment when I run toward its waves, the freedom I have found in my relationship with Christ provides ultimate and lasting freedom – the kind that won’t come and go with occasional visits or vacational moments. It’s true that I love the beach, but it has nothing on how much I love the giver of life’s truest freedom, the spiritual kind of freedom that cannot be matched by anything earthly.
What about you? Are you free? Don’t answer right away. Think about it for a minute before you do.
You might be physically free to run…and to dance, like the song says, but what about your heart? Is it free? Or is it bound by hurts and burdens that make you feel chained and locked up and anything but free?
Though you may feel trapped in a prison of hopelessness, doubt or fear, you don’t have to stay in such confinement. Whether or not you live within 1000 miles of a beach is irrelevant. Wherever you are coming from, you can run towards the freedom that is now and has always been standing right in front of you. The freedom that comes from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Seek His face today. That sound you hear is Him calling you to sweet freedom, greater than the kind that running your toes in the sand can provide. And there truly is no better feeling than that.
Since moving to North Carolina nearly 13 years ago, this midwestern girl has found a new love. Besides my wonderful hubby, this part of the country has introduced me one of its most fabulous features…the sandy beaches of both North and South Carolina. I admit that I have fallen for the smells of salty seawater, soft sand and cool breezes at night. I am in love with the mighty crash of the ocean waves, sometimes gently beckoning all in its sight to come and play…sometimes charging with the ferocity of a bull to a red cape, daring anyone to come a step closer. Either way, the beach has made its mark on me.
One of the things I love the most about the beach is the sense of freedom I feel when I approach the water. Sweet freedom. Take my shoes off and run freedom. Almost sheer abandoned freedom. And for a non-spontaneous soul as myself, that is no small thing.
I think other people must share my feelings, as I have observed quite a few beach goers running toward the waves the minute they step foot on the sand beneath them. It’s almost as if, in that moment, they want the ocean to swallow them up in an act of ultimate freedom. Freedom from work concerns. Freedom from health crises. Freedom from relationship woes. Ahhh…to experience such sweet freedom, if only for a moment.
There is a song I love that we sing often in church that echoes this sentiment. It’s entitled, I Am Free, and its lyrics are simple and yet, powerful and hold great significance for the beach lover in me.
I am free to run…
I am free to dance…
I am free to live for you…
I am free…
Yes I am free…
While the beach certainly provides such freedom to run (and maybe even, in my most playful moods…to dance) for a moment when I run toward its waves, the freedom I have found in my relationship with Christ provides ultimate and lasting freedom – the kind that won’t come and go with occasional visits or vacational moments. It’s true that I love the beach, but it has nothing on how much I love the giver of life’s truest freedom, the spiritual kind of freedom that cannot be matched by anything earthly.
What about you? Are you free? Don’t answer right away. Think about it for a minute before you do.
You might be physically free to run…and to dance, like the song says, but what about your heart? Is it free? Or is it bound by hurts and burdens that make you feel chained and locked up and anything but free?
Though you may feel trapped in a prison of hopelessness, doubt or fear, you don’t have to stay in such confinement. Whether or not you live within 1000 miles of a beach is irrelevant. Wherever you are coming from, you can run towards the freedom that is now and has always been standing right in front of you. The freedom that comes from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Seek His face today. That sound you hear is Him calling you to sweet freedom, greater than the kind that running your toes in the sand can provide. And there truly is no better feeling than that.
Lisa
“So if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through.” John 8:36 (The Message)
