2 Corinthians 4:17: For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs the trouble.
Glass Beach overlooks the Pacific Ocean in the northwestern corner of Fort Bragg.
The pieces of beautiful, smooth glass on the Fort Bragg Beach above were not always so pretty and smooth and colorful. They used to be discarded trash, but the power of wind, water, and sand coming down on the old trash (broken bottles and jars) transformed them into beautiful-looking stones or gems over a period of years (usually 5-20 years or longer).
What you see above is called “Sea Glass” and they are referred to as the “Reverse Gem”. Traditional gems like diamonds, rubies, and emeralds are made by nature and then refined by man. “Sea Glass” is originally made by man (glass bottles and jars), but then refined by the forces of nature to become smooth frosty gems found on the beach. The old saying is “Man Made, Nature Refined”!
As Christians, we are God-Made, but Nature-Refined! This just means that God makes us and places us where He wants us in the world. He then providentially uses everything in our world (every circumstance we ever experience in our environment) to refine us, mature us, and mold us into Christ-like beings.
Short, but interesting history of Glass Beach
(From: https://californiathroughmylens.com/glass-beach-fort-bragg)
…The 1906 earthquake that devastated San Francisco, also tore Fort Bragg apart. Prior to that tragedy, people stored their garbage on their properties and reused what they could. Glass Beach consists of three individual bays that were all used as trash sites for decades
…After the quake and before rebuilding could begin, the fallen homes, shops, and all the garbage had to be removed. Much was burned or bulldozed toward the ocean. This practice continued for decades while, to the surprise of the community, most of the garbage remained in the coastal coves.
…It’s thought that broken bottles and pottery, old glass windows, and mirrors washed into the surf to become sea glass, though there’s no consensus on why it keeps returning to this area.
…The refuse remained on the beach until the 1960s when coastal cleanup began and the phenomenon of Glass Beach was revealed. The shards smoothed from tumbling in the sea, poured onto the sand with every wave.
…The site has been naturally transformed from a century-old trash site into a multicolored treasure chest. Over the years, the sea’s waves churning against the sands have smoothed the edges of car batteries, bottles and cans, turning them into a rainbow of translucent colors.
…Consider some of the origins of the various stones. Sapphire gems come from apothecary bottles. The ruby reds are likely from pre-1967 tail lights. The force of the waves broke down the remaining pottery and glass into small jewels.
…It takes years for the tumbling and aging of glass to create the unique frosted sheen and pitting associated with sea glass. The lime and soda used in making most glass leaches out in a process called hydration.
…Since the glass on Glass Beach came from many different sources, other chemicals have interacted in the weathering process, forming crystals on some of the pieces’ surfaces. Glass tumbled in freshwater escapes the pitting process due to the difference in pH.
…If you hold a piece and run your fingers over the edges — you’ll find they’re round and feel soft, unlike the glassware we’re used to.
Note: This is not the only “Sea Glass” beach in the world. I am pasting in here two other URLs you can check out. One is in Hawaii and the other is in Siberia, Russia.
Posted in Hawaii Nature, On The Water June 08, 2021 by Megan Shute…. There’s A Beach In Hawaii Made Entirely Out Of Sea Glass And It’s Astounding. Glass Beach simply proves that one man’s trash can become another man’s treasure - with more than 10 years and the powerful Pacific Ocean. (https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/hawaii/kauai-glass-beach-hi/)
Glass Beach: where nature has turned pollution into beauty. Waves on Russia's Pacific shoreline crafted old bottles, porcelain and tiles into a sparkling tourist attraction. By Olga Gertcyk - 30 January 2017 (https://siberiantimes.com/other/others/features/f0284-glass-beach-where-nature-has-turned-pollution-into-beauty/)
There are many spiritual and moral lessons in how “Sea Glass” begins as glass bottles & jars that get tossed on the shore as trash and then broken and tumbled smooth by the waves and currents. Nature acts like a big rock tumbler recycling our pollution! Studies show how it can take 7-20 years or even longer, in a constant surf environment for the old glass to become sea glass.
Now, if you had to be a piece of glass, here is the question:
Would you rather look like this?
Or would you rather look like this?
If the glass could evaluate its situation and make a choice, I think it would say it chose to be like the beautifully smooth, colorful gems. But….these gems could not have reached this point without all of the processes they went through over all that time. They were thrown away as trash. They were beaten down over and over and over by the force of the waves coming down on them and rubbing grains of sand against them, but this is the only way they could be turned into beautiful smooth gems or stones.
I know they don’t have emotional feelings or feel physical pain, but picture yourself as a human being who went through these kinds of experiences in your life over the years, that these broken bottles and jugs went through as glass. I think we could call this trouble and affliction in human terms. The glass bottles and jars first were trashed…thrown away as worthless. Have you ever felt like you have been trashed by others God allowed into your life?
Then these glass bottles and jars were forgotten. Have you ever felt like you have been forgotten by others that used to be in your life? Joseph felt like that as he lived through those 13 years of slavery and imprisonment in Egypt…thrown away by his brothers and betrayed by those he faithfully served in Potiphar’s house…before he was made Prime Minister of Egypt (even though he was a Jew). Pharaoh saw Joseph as a beautiful polished gem, full of the kind of wisdom Egypt needed.
But the time came when these old glass bottles and jars were rediscovered on the beach, they had been totally transformed into beautiful smooth gems. All of those years they were forgotten, God’s providential power (the wind, waves, and sand) was working on them and recreating them into something people wanted and valued and used in their lives.
They no longer looked anything like the original broken and shattered bottles and jars, with all of the rough edges and sharp points. All of the trouble and affliction had caused them to go through a literal and physical metamorphosis, like the biological experience of the caterpillar being turned into a butterfly. They are so valued and appreciated now, that many of them are actually used to make exquisite Jewelry, which can be purchased in stores or online. So, think if these redeemed gems could speak and express feelings, they would tell us how grateful they are to have been transformed into something of beauty and value.
Maybe that is why King David said in Psalm 119:71 that it was good that he went through affliction because it caused him to learn God’s statutes (principles of life). He also said in Psalm 119:143, that through all of the trouble and anguish he experienced, God’s commandments became his greatest delight. And he explained in Psalm 34:19, even though the afflictions of the righteous are many, the Lord delivers them out of the afflictions and into gems of the faith, with godly character. God providentially lets many a powerful wave come down on us…on that beach where we have been thrown away like trash, but He does so to make our character smooth and beautiful and attractive...like Christ!
We know the Lord uses circumstances 24 hours a day to mature our character…the moral and spiritual values in our character. Paul told us plainly in Romans 5:3-4… that we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope…like the pieces of broken glass rejoicing every time a new wave pounded down on them, rubbing sand against them, and helping produce the final gems…who had hope of being reclaimed and used and valued.
It is so interesting how the Greek word for trouble (ταράσσω) means “To stir or agitate or roil water”. Roil means to move turbulently or to be in a state of turbulence or agitation. Here is the detailed definition of trouble.
To agitate, or trouble a thing, by the movement of its parts to and fro. To cause one inward commotion and take away his calmness of mind, or disturb his equanimity. To disquiet or make restless. To render one anxious or distressed. To perplex one’s mind by suggesting scruples or doubts. The KJV translates Strong's G2347 in the following manner: tribulation (21x), affliction (17x), trouble (3x), anguish (1x), persecution (1x), burdened (1x), to be afflicted (with G1519) (1x).
Another listing in a Greek Lexicon says that trouble means pressing or pressing together with pressure or to put in motion or to agitate back-and-forth or shaking to-and-fro. Isn’t this exactly what the waves of the ocean crashing down on the broken glass do to it? The waves and the sand trouble the broken glass, agitate it, and move it to and fro in a turbulent fashion.
Have you ever felt like that? Well…now you know what God is doing in your life? And you know why He is doing it. When He is finished with one season of this in your life, people who encounter you will take note that you have been with Jesus (Acts 4:13).
So, we all have to learn that the circumstances we encounter don’t count much compared to what happens inside of us through the circumstances. As one wise man said, “The circumstances are temporary (they come and go), but the character we are left with is permanent”. Another way to say it is that the pain is temporary, but the rewards are eternal.
C.S. Lewis said “God whispers to us in our pleasures but shouts to us in our pain. We rarely change until our pain becomes greater than our fear of changing. It’s not “seeing the light” but “feeling the heat” that captures our attention.” A goldsmith was asked, “How do you know when the gold is pure?” He replied, “When I see my reflection in it”. Our heavenly Father knows that when our faith and character are pure enough, people will be able to see Jesus’ reflection in us.
Have you ever known someone that you would think or say this about them? “So and so is rough around the edges”? What does that mean? It usually means that in some way, they are unsophisticated, and in need of refinement. Depending on the person being referenced, the needed refinement might be cultural, moral, spiritual, or whatever.
But, would anyone you know…think or say this about you? Any of us would shiver to know someone looked at us like that. Therefore, we must appreciate the trouble God sends our way and cooperate with the wind and waves and sand (our hard circumstances) that are slowly, but surely making us into one of God’s gems, that others will discover, value, and appreciate Christ through.
Here is one last analogy for you, illustrating the process God goes through so that the image of Christ can be seen in our lives. One day years ago a father and son were walking through kind of an old classic western-type small town. They passed a man, who was in the process of carving a full-size wooden Indian out of a block of wood. The father posed this question to his son, “How does he do that?” The young son quickly declared, “Oh - that is easy Dad. He just carves and whittles away everything that does not look like an Indian”.
Now you know, that the pain you feel is your heavenly Father, simply carving and whittling away everything that does not look like His son Jesus Christ. The pain will be worth it!
Thank you for your precious time!
Gene
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