Monday, November 15, 2021

Sabbatical - Third Lesson - Sand and Boulders

Keep talking Lord, I'm listening!
 
Galveston Island is about 27 miles long.
I did not walk it's entire length,
though someday I would very much like to do that,
but I did explore it's entire length
and walked many miles of it.
I noticed some things on my walks.
 
Sand.
Sometimes the sand was soft and loose, warm and white.
On other areas of the beach the sand was more course and brown.
Sometimes it was cold and hard and wet.
Sometimes the wet sand was smooth
while just a few feet away it was rippled.
In some places, shells and seaweed littered the beach
and clams buried themselves leaving little holes dotting the surface.
Still other places, it was void of anything but sand and water.
Some places the sand was dull and flat,
others, it shimmered and glittered.
I could walk for miles uninterrupted
and suddenly come upon boulders, 
huge boulders, blocking my path, 
forcing a choice to climb over or go around.
Even in the boulders though, there was beauty.
Beauty in their formations and colors and sparkles and strength.

The first afternoon, I encountered boulders as I walked.
The flip-flops I was wearing 
along with the eventual crashing of the sea against the sea wall
made going over a poor choice.
(You may wonder how I know that.....)
The force of the water against the boulders,
the unknown beneath its surface,
and the eventual meeting of the water and the sea wall
made going around on the water side a poor choice.
And so I went above to the sea wall. 

As I walked, I discovered that the further southwest I went,
the quieter it got.
The busyness of the island,
the traffic along the tourist area,
the people sunning and playing and fishing,
all the noise and activity of vacationers
faded the nearer I came to the end of the seawall,
the closer I got to less popular beaches.
The sounds of civilization
stopped interfering with the crashing of the sea
and the blowing coastal winds.

I began to think about how like life the beach is.
Constantly changing, yet the same.
Every few feet, something new to see and navigate.
Boulders that seem insurmountable,
tempting an end of the walk.
Wrong choices that sometimes mean going back to the foot of the boulder
and starting again.
But my what we miss when we stop and stay at the foot of the boulders
or turn and go back from where we have come
rather than choosing a forward path!
The boulders seem impossible,
but there is strength in them!
Even when we choose the wrong path
and must start again,
there is beauty!
 
And you know, as I walked,
I did not walk alone! 
God walked with me!
He spoke to me in the lapping waves.
He spoke to me in the surf crashing against the boulders and the sea wall.
He spoke to me on the smooth, sparkling sand,
and on the littered, rippled sand.
Every. Single. Step.
He was there!
 
Keep talking Lord, I'm listening!