Searching For Something That Fits ~ Marcia Lee Laycock ~ Living Each Day

SEARCHING FOR SOMETHING THAT FITS

There's a beach on the north shore of Lake Superior that fascinated me as a child. It was a bit hard to get to, unless you had a boat, because the only land access was up over the back of the high cliff. My brother and I made the trek often and would spend hours on that beach, searching. It was a pebble beach, it's entire length strewn with rounded stones of all sizes and colors. My favorites were black. They absorbed the heat from the sun and felt warm and comforting when you held them in the palm of your hand. I spent hours searching for the perfect stone that fit my hand as though it had been cut from it. Sometimes I was successful, but more often than not, I walked away from that beach, dissatisfied. I would carry a stone or two around for a while, but usually drop it, in favor of another that looked more promising. Sometimes I'd take one home, to add to my collection.

As I look back on my life since those days of childhood, I realize much of it was spent searching for something in life that fit, something I could hold on to, that would bring me satisfaction and fulfillment. I picked up a lot of stones that didn't fit; jobs, hobbies, diversions, even friends and closer relationships. All were efforts to fill the void in my life. All were attempts to find something that fit. Like my search for the perfect stone on the shore, I was never totally satisfied.

It was not until many years later that I discovered I was going about it all wrong. I was trying to fit something external to my shape, my way of thinking, my way of dealing with life. It wasn't until I turned to spiritual things that I realized I was the one that had to fit. I was the small round stone that had fallen away and had to find its place again, in God's hand. In John 15, Jesus tells us how to do that, He says: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love." (John 15:9) He also says, "Abide in me."

Abiding is effortless. It's a simple act of rest. Jesus is saying, live in me. Live as though you were being held in the palm of God's hand. There is no safer place, no place that offers more comfort and peace, and no place that gives more satisfaction and sense of fulfillment. You are the stone. Jesus is holding out His hand, waiting for you to curl up in it. It's the place where you will always fit.

Midi playing ~ "On A Distant Shore"
© Bruce DeBoer

to contact Adelle