Are Pieces of Regret Drifting from your Life?

by Barbara Latta

Driftwood Beach Jekyll Island, GA

Ocean waves slap against the shoreline, then recede, slap, recede, slap. Each time the foam leaves the sandy shore pieces of fallen trees, branches, and other debris are left lying in the sand. Bleached from the sun and dried from the salt water absorbed on the floating journey, driftwood finds a new home on the north end of Jekyll Island, Georgia. Aptly named Driftwood Beach this stretch of sand has become a tourist attraction and popular venue for weddings.

Because of the location, once the pieces of wood are deposited on land the tide does not take them out again and a large collection becomes a beautiful display of often discarded and useless dead wood. A shop nearby sells creative works of art formed from the debris. The transformation into Christmas ornaments, sea creatures, boats, and other collectibles display the ability an artist can make from what some would consider pieces of trash.

Do you feel like a piece of driftwood? I spent lots of years floating in a sea of regret looking back into my life wishing I would have done things differently. Why didn’t I go back to college or teach my children better?  Why did I speak words that hurt others or do things I would like

Ken and I with an amazing driftwood display

to erase from my life?

But if I stay in that place, I would be like the driftwood floating in the ocean absorbing more sea water until rot crumbles the material. Because the wood makes it to shore and allows the sun to dry the moisture away, the leafless trees embed into the sand and become beach sculptures on the horizon providing beauty and amazing shapes. Others become the source of artistic creations. Nothing is wasted because the sea surrendered the trees.

Nativity created from
driftwood

If you feel as if your life is nothing but shreds of dead wood drifting with no purpose, surrender onto the beach of hope. Jesus already has the tools to form each sliver of past mistakes into a gift of redemption and renewal. Get out of the sea of regret and let the Son shine on your drifting branches. You are His priceless creation and nothing will ever be wasted when the pieces are in the carpenter’s hands.

How do you cast off regret that floats into your life?