I stood atop the sand dunes.
Wind in my air; a cold wind, cutting through me.
Smell of salt in the air.
Waves rolled in, and crashed onto the shore; each one a different height; each one finding a different end point on the sand.
As I looked out over the water, I saw a straight line. From left to right, from one set of cliffs right across further than my eyes could take in all at once, a straight line.
The end of the earth. The bit where boats drop off if they go too far. The very edge.
Now we know that’s not true – we know the earth is round. But when we look out over the water, our eyes tell us that there is an ending point, a boundary, a bit we can’t go further than. We call it a horizon.
If we’d never been to school, or read books, or watched TV, or talked to other people, we would think that there is no more beyond that line. That’s the edge. The earth is flat. That’s what my eyes tell me. I can’t go further than that line.
But we can.
Most of us, in our lives, when we look at ourselves and what we can and can’t do, we see a horizon. We create for ourselves a horizon. “That’s as far as I can go. That’s as much as I can do. I can’t go any further, any deeper, do any more. I can see my horizon. I can’t go beyond that.”
But you can.
Horizons can be stretched. You know that if you progress towards that horizon, if you take off over the waves and water, that as you get closer to the horizon, it moves further away from you. It’s only an optical boundary, an optical limit. If you can just have the courage or the determination or the energy or the initiative to move off the shore, you’ll discover that the horizon isn’t a real boundary, just an optical one.
The Bible is full of horizon stretchers – little verses and promises and words of God that show us that we can each stretch our horizons, that there is more we can see and do and be if we look beyond the horizon.
Try these – Philippians 4:11 “For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.” That’s saying that Jesus Christ can provide us with enough strength to do and accomplish anything He thinks is good for us.
This one, Ephesians 3:20 “By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.” That’s saying that with God’s power, in you, you can do things beyond your horizons.
What are your horizons? Is there something that you’ve always wanted to do but didn’t think you could? Has someone asked you to do something, and you’ve said no out of fear of failure? Do you see yourself as a certain type of person, who can’t amount to any more than you are now? Have you looked at your life, seen a horizon, and stayed on the shore?
Go on, you can do it! Alone? No. With God? Yes. The power of God is amazing, and it’s available. Life can be so pedestrian without it, and such a rush with it. The power of God stretches horizons. The power of God takes you beyond what your eyes can see. The power of God can sweep you across the water and the waves and on to new horizons.
www.salvationarmy.org.au/mornington
