Waves, a gallery poem

By Ellie Manly

God’s healing is a lot like waves on a lake.

Sometimes gentle:

a daily, continuous washing at your feet.

Sometimes rough:

where the untamed waters spin you off your feet, revealing your unstable footing.

There’s a repetition within the nature-

it is necessary to push forward and pull back.

As moments pass and the wind shifts, the waters calm, resting briefly.

But it doesn’t take much to stir them again till a wave catches you by surprise, soaking your ankles.

As seemingly random and unpredictable as the process is, it is all under His control:

a vision carried out, a symphony he conducts. 

And like a rock on this beach, you submit to this untamable dance. 

You start out rough and jagged, and day after day the waves continuously crash over you. 

Each day it can be unnoticeable, one may grow impatient by the seemingly unproductive and slow process. 

But little by little, year after year, you find you have been forever changed:

smoothed over and calmed, content to be moved by the waves.