What would you do on a secluded island?

I had the opportunity to find out this past week. We took a boat ride with friends to a sweet spot in Sebastian Inlet.  

We anchored at a small island so we could hang and explore.  The island was filled with seashells and washed up trees and branches. Like the table in my kitchen where I drop off everything I’m carrying when I walk in the door, this was the ocean’s drop off for unwanted things.  Trees that had been completely uprooted now found a home at this place.  No leaves. No life left to them. Their roots dry and weathered with no chance for growth. 

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It reminded me of the isolation we can so easily feel when we are far from God. 

In John 15:5, Jesus says 

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

John 15:5

Later that day, I saw a gorgeous and expensive table in a store made from driftwood.  It looked like part of a tree I saw on the island.  The parallel doesn’t escape me between how a piece of broken, damaged and washed up tree can turn into such a beautiful piece of furniture. A piece that could only be this charming because of what it went through.  

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Damaged, washed up, and having gone through the storm…God isn’t done with you.  He is still creating something beautiful in you.  Unlike the washed up trees on the island, we still have the opportunity for life abundant in Him. 

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.

Jeremiah 17:7-8

Whose trust is in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.

He brings life to our dry bones.

My prayer for you and me is that we would take an honest look at our lives. Are we deeply rooted in His truths? Are we so disconnected that we could be taken away by the next crashing wave?