The beach in the off season is not very crowded, or at least it wasn’t today which gave me opportunity to walk, and think, and appreciate, and pray. At one point I found myself calf deep in the surf as wave after wave splashed to shore. There is peace in the lapping of the waves across one’s feet. Stopping I turned and faced out to sea letting the salty water wash around me and allowing my feet to sink deeper into the sand with every splash of its cooling spray.
This is a game I used to play as a child, I liked to see how deep my feet would go before breaking free and starting again. There were many occasions where I remember losing my balance and falling over with shrieks and giggles.
Today I watched as eventually the sand covered both of my feet entirely up to my ankles and with the next wave I found myself teetering on the edge of falling. It was at this point that I pulled first one foot, then the other out from under the sand so I could once again have the freedom to move with the waves and the watch the ocean floor in awe as it continually shifted and changed beneath the surface. Once bringing a tiny perfect shell, and next a battered broken smashed piece of debris, the next wave shared a chunk of golden driftwood, while the next some seaweed. I began to think about how life changes often come in waves, sometimes gentle and beautiful, and other times harsh and frightening. And just like in the ocean if we stay in one place and choose not to move with the waves, we will find ourselves buried and struggling to get out.
We were created to grow and change, we were made to experience new things and develop new friendships, to seek improvement and to strive for success. We thrive when we allow the changes that are inevitable, to impact our lives in a way that brings growth and maturity. Don’t bury your feet in the sand and stay stuck in one place, move with the flow, roll with the changes, and embrace the beauty of your own personal ocean floor.
Isaiah 43:18-19
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.