The Beach

With all the snow this past winter in New England, I sometimes felt as if summer and my beach time would never arrive… but it finally has.  I am sitting here in Pompano Beach, Florida in what has to be one of the hottest June’s in recent years, toes in the sand, drink at my side and trusty laptop on my lap.

I have been here completely alone for three days and a wonderful three days it has been; Very good for clearing the mind, re-energizing the spirit and personal reflection.  Yesterday, I sat in the warm Atlantic Ocean, just floating until my body grew completely limp with relaxation; until my mind grew silent with inactivity.  Yesterday, I rented a beach chair and umbrella and basked in the sun.  Now however, I have taken my beach blanket, shook out the wrinkles and have laid it on the sand.  I plan to sit here for a long time.  I want to watch the sky turn from light blue to pale yellow and pink and then orange.  I want to watch the day fade to evening and watch the moon crest over the ocean.

The ocean.  The ocean churns restlessly, white foam on the shore. The air is crisp and warm, the wind light and caressing.  I sink my feet into the still warm sand and look out to endless ocean. 

I settle deeper into the sand.  

Eyes open then closing again so I can use my other senses to inhale the scent of coconut and aloe from the sunscreens and lotions used throughout the day; hear the surf as it laps the shore; taste the salt on my lips from the ocean spray, feel the sand growing cool as the day slips away.

There is no one I need to be, no one that places demands on me or wants me to be any way, anyone or anywhere.  

Scanning the shore I see many sea shells that have been washed up.  Earlier this week I went snorkeling for them and found several that I found beautiful and gave them to my friend to take home to her grandson (who incidentally asked she bring him home a shell from the beach).  What a wonderful conversation we had about our God and our purpose while she was here.   There are not many people I could have a conversation about God with and feel comfortable having such conversation…

Do you ever wish you (when I say you, I mean me) could grow a sea shell around you to protect you from the elements and from everything and everyone out there looking to devour you?  That is the thought that currently comes to mind after several thoughtful and thoughtless conversations today.

But if we/I did grow a shell, it would likely be like the ones I went snorkeling for and found.  Whole.  Intact.  Unique.  Not necessarily pretty, but not broken like most of the ones I see before me along the shore now.  These shells are useless at protection because they are missing most of their structure.  They are still beautiful in their own way…

I wonder… if we did have the ability to grow outer shells, would that be good or bad?  Have we not ourselves, been created to be in fellowship with one another?  Does the kind of sea creature that lived in the shells I collected earlier this week not need fellowship, friendship, relationships?  I wonder if the kind of sea creature that lived in some of these shells didn't need fellowship and even though we sometimes think we don't need fellowship either, we do.   I’m just sayin' that while I was alone on the beach, feeling content in the solitude, I was wholly aware of the need for humans to be in healthy relationships and wholly grateful to God for His design.  There were and are times that, if I could, I would have donned a shell.

The waves crash again and again. The sun is gone for the day. I wait now in quiet for that first star to appear and then another and then too many for me to count. The sky will be full of little lights - billions of little lights. The world is big. So huge and vast and full yet empty; So beautiful, yet ugly; So loud, yet so quiet.  I am nothing but a quiet observer, in a quiet moment, fleeting and forgetful. Here today, gone tomorrow.  It's all pretty insignificant really, yet at the same time, so very significant.

What will I do here today that will still be here tomorrow? And maybe that's part of the problem--all the trying rather than simply being, with the warm sand, the foaming waves, the billions of stars and something I can feel but will never see.

It has been a long, hot day in the sun, and it feels nice to finally let it end.  For now, I am content to simply enjoy my evening here, alone on the beach.

Have a thought?  86 the bullshit and let me have them.  Talk to me...