In this post I am getting a little bit philosophical…the beach is cleansing my spirit. The past few weeks have been stressful and I am grateful to have had a few days of sand, sun, atmosphere and great seafood to release my worries with the tide as the waves bring in new ideas and a resilient hope.
I am grateful to be at the beach. Praise God it is so petty and peaceful here as I stare out at the ocean. I squint my eyes, my eyebrows furrowing to negate the glare. Even against the shroud of stacked oyster grey clouds, the sun bleeds through, a beacon of light piercing the clouds. A patch of fearless blue sky carves a space in the ominous sky. Clouds can mask the blue clear expanse, but blue skies are ever present in the backdrop of the rain. As I look into the heart of the sea I witness the perfect balance of stillness and constant movement. The ebb and flow, rise and fall, the quiet and reckless abandon in one rhythm. I know in this space of seconds that God is with me. Positive energy surrounds me as I breathe in the salt air. Salt is believed to have healing and protective powers – it blocks negative energy and is often used in church ceremonies and Native American rituals. Water is a healing force, physically and spiritually. It makes sense that saltwater, the ocean’s roar has the ability to take away the pain and fill a spirit with peace and hope. God is with me and I stand in this moment of respite, an escape for the soul to rejoice and rejuvenate, I get caught in the cross hairs of fear like splinters in a rotten boardwalk. I fear going back to the muck of my day to day existence that drags me down like an undertow. In the glimmer of a stray ray of light on the water’s edge I perceive that my journey is moving forward in a positive direction. God is with me. I fall into life’s painting, the scenery emulates a J.M.W. Turner canvas, but with far more richness and depth…life is a living work of art and we are brushstrokes defining the landscape – paint well.
The line between the horizon and the sky and sea is faint…converging in the sea mists almost as one. The horizon divisible only by the slight spectrum of seaweed gray. Even in nebulous forecasts God guides us…we must chart a way forward and learn to not only weather the storm and embrace its lessons.
I feel a sudden burst of warmth as the sun pours on me – streaming in the cumulus rift, in a sliver of vibrant blue – breaking the gray – the heat invigorates my body. I am at peace in this warm glow imbued with an undeniable sense of hope. God is at work in my life. I am changing my life course for the better. The past and its sufferings taught me necessary lessons, the future is wide open as a canvas and it is up to me to trust intuition and apply life’s lessons to chart a fruitful journey. If the wind doesn’t blow your boat, you manipulate the sails, if the sails fail you paddle and allow the current to take you where you need to go.
God is before me, Christ is beside me and the Holy Spirit is within me…the angels and saints surround the fabric of life in the nature of the stars and crackle of the coarse sand.
I close my eyes and listen to the waves crashing. I am sitting on a chaise long on our suite’s balcony – the ocean is across the street, behind the dunes, the sand shifts in the tide. As the waves roll in, I can hear the water and the cracked shell sand scraping. Friction is motion. Sand, sea, shells – broken and rebuilt in each rise and fall of the waves…refined and constant in movement. It takes a balance of standing still and running the waves to create a reaction.
We can be an oyster or a shell. I have had to close myself off from the world after past pain, but now I am willing to open my shell and allow God to wash me clean and to open up my tarnished soul and live as a pearl, resilient, refined by the choppy sea and coarse sand.
I readily allow the sand, surf, and sea breeze to cleanse me. In this moment on a balcony on Wrightsville Beach I embrace living. Living to love life, in loving life, loving others and giving myself for others. I am GRATEFUL to God for this moment and for my life.
