The story is told of a boy on the beach who scoops up sand with a bright red bucket and plastic shovel, making a giant sandcastle with a moat and towers. Nearby, a businessman also builds a castle using a keyboard and a phone. Soon, time passes, the tide rises, and both castles are destroyed.
The boy, who viewed his castle as temporary and expected it to be destroyed, delights in seeing the waves reduce his castle to a disappearing mound of wet sand, but the businessman despairs as his life ebbs and flows and the works of his hands are eventually swept away. If his castle isn’t taken from him, he will eventually be taken from his castle.
The inconsolable businessman and the delighted child differed in how long they expected to enjoy their castles and what their final ending would look like.
Remember, Scripture warns us not to set our affections on the temporary and fleeting pursuits of this life, if we’re to redeem the time.
Rick Grubbs is best known as the host of “Redeeming the Time,” a one-minute radio program featured on hundreds of radio outlets around the world. He has spoken thousands of times on Biblical time management in all 50 states and 26 other countries. He is the author of the book “Morning Momentum: God’s plan for launching an unstoppable day.” He and his wife, Carrie, live in Salisbury, NC, with several of their 12 children.
