Like many phrases I write, the weight of the words doesn’t hit the bull’s eye until I read them later.
“Tide in, tide out” is one of these…

My wonder at being 64 is shown in variations of an Old English phrase dating back to the 1300s: 
TIDE AND TIME WAIT FOR NO ONE…
It means that, like the ocean tide, nothing can halt or control the passage of time. 
God’s tide carries us into the world. Someday his tide will bear us out.

But by adjusting ours lens a degree we also can see ourselves carried along in a tide that drags us into the depths, then reverses and rolls us back to the strand—day after day!

Long ago I declared war on this daily tide. I strained against its tug and thrust, and, silly me, whenever the tide reversed—in that instant of transition—I experienced a sense of mastery. But this perceived control of the tide was not reality. Soon the tug or thrust resumed, and I struggled against the current all over again.

I’ve fought this futile battle against the tide for over a half a century!

So this Father’s Day God reminded me about tides and time:

“…I, the LORD, define the ocean’s sandy shoreline as an everlasting boundary that the waters cannot cross. The waves may toss and roar, but they can never pass the boundaries I set.” (Jer. 5:22)

“Who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it burst from the womb, and as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness? For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores. I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop!” (Job 38:8)

We can rest peacefully in God’s ebb and flow, because he controls tide and time–we don’t.

Tide in, tide out.