The Driftwood Lesson

 

Moreau Lake State Park 

It was just lying there..........

..................stuck on the sand with the waves gently rocking it but not going anywhere........

..............bark stripped bare...........

A smaller piece next to my chair and I pick it up because it's rare to see driftwood at this state park lake. I was alone with my thoughts after hiking a small mountain by myself, asking God to reveal some things.....things that remain a mystery to me but ones that also are such a part of me........

and when I saw the driftwood, I wondered about it.........

I was not at a natural lake.........it's man made and the only time there are waves is when the wind is blowing strong......because no power boats are allowed on the lake........or jet skis.............................

How did it get to the more private side of the lake? 

Away from children playing marco polo and lifeguards blowing whistles and parents cooking on grills smoking hot and fragrant from charcoal...........

Why was there only one piece? Where was the tree it dropped from? 

Is it birch, beech, oak or maple? I know it isn't pine.

and I thought back to childhood when we would collect driftwood from the rugged shore of the Great Sacandaga and my mother would create artful pieces from the bits and have them all around the camp and on the coffee table at home.......lovingly crafted by hands that worked hard. 

and I thought about how I learned about driftwood.....and what love is and isn't. 

Driftwood happens when pieces of a tree are blown off due to storms and are then tossed and turned over and under the waves of a  lake or the ocean. 

The bark is stripped bare.....exposed to sunlight and fades slowly over time......

.......like my soul is stripped bare after being exposed to abuse and betrayals and it will slowly fade.........the memories......over time. 

Some already have. 

That's God. That's Love. He reaches down to break my heart into fragments and they're tossed and turned by all the emotions of grieving a loss.....loss of innocence and loss of trust. 

And when those emotions are all twisted up? 

He loves anyway.

Scripture says God is Love.

Victor Hugo (in Les Miserables c.1862) says "when you love another person, you see the face of God". 

But love doesn't hurt, doesn't abuse, doesn't lie, doesn't betray

Love, instead, is patient. Is kind. Is not rude, jealous or prideful. 

Love doesn't fail.

And it endures forever.......the gift of Love. 

And I am beginning to realize that God still loves me even with the distance I feel in my heart. And I know....I just know one day soon, He will take those twisted thoughts and emotions and straighten them out, bundle them up, and set them afloat......

to become like driftwood.

and the friends He's placed in my path this summer? 

They may say hard things to me.......Truth......but they're doing so out of a place of Love. ........and when I see them........their faces.......I see God in them. When I read their emails, or texts, I sense God in them. 

While my soul is stripped bare.......

..........and I struggle between survival and surrender......

they are patient. they are praying. 

and I can see the face of God in them......

.............because that's Love. 

Please note: the above sculpture pieces are from an exhibit at MASS MoCa this summer that I was fortunate to get to with my husband and oldest daughter. This particular exhibit is titled Spatial Poems by the artist Cecilia Vicuna, Sam Fresquez, Lola Ayisha Ogbara (Scars Insist on Being Remembered)