Throughout our lives, you and I are building sandcastles. What kinds of sandcastles, you ask? I’ll give some examples from a few of mine: I have a marriage sandcastle, a parent sandcastle, a job sandcastle, and an “I love to read” sandcastle (book nerds unite!).

These sandcastles represent pieces of how we identify ourselves. We might choose to build sandcastles that reflect God’s glory, or we might not. While many of our sandcastles are very good, none of them represent the deepest core of who we are. Simply put—we are His, a beautiful reflection of His glory, beloved sons and daughters of the King! There is nothing we can add or take away from ourselves to make God love or value us any more than He already does.

As we go through life and build our sandcastles, we don’t have to be afraid of what others think or if our castles will survive or not. When the waves of life come through and take down our sandcastles, whether we are cheering for the waves to roar over (like a over a job that needs to end) or begging for them to stay away (like when we lose someone or something and can’t do anything about it), we find that we are still exactly who we are meant to be because our identity in Christ can never be threatened by the destruction of or changes in these sandcastles.

We all face difficulties, failures, victories, and celebrations, but our true selves are not identified by any of these things. This way of thinking is counter-cultural in a world that tells you your value and identity comes from the type of sandcastles you build. But you, precious one, are identified by the One who reflects His glory in you, and you are deeply loved, always and no matter what.

What You’ll Need to Build Sandcastles:

• Kinetic Sand (can find on amazon.com or in stores like Walmart, Michaels, or Target)
• baking sheet or butcher paper
• sandcastle toys (or measuring cups, utensils, and bowls)
• “His Beloved” flags found at: http://bit.ly/HFJanCreateFlag
• toothpicks
• tape

What You’ll Do to Build Sandcastles:

1. Gather your family at the kitchen table with your supplies.

2. Color and decorate your “His Beloved” flags, and then attach them to toothpicks with tape.

3. Build a sandcastle with the Kinetic Sand using the toys or measuring cups, utensils, and bowls.

4. When you have completed your sandcastle, put your flags on your castle. As you create, talk about the different sandcastles each of you is building in your life. Look at the one you have created together! It is good and displays God’s beauty, but it doesn’t take away or add to who you are. In fact, that flag is a reminder of your true identity: His Beloved.

5. Have fun demolishing the castle you just made and talk about a time when your family faced changes (maybe a job or a move, for example) or a time you went through something difficult (death of a loved one or difficulty at school, for example). In all that your family has experienced and built, God remains unthreatened by all the worries of our world and the false identities we might wear from time to time. He looks at us, a proud daddy, full of love for His Beloved.