I grew up near water my whole life. My mom and dad loved the water, especially the white sandy beaches of the Gulf. I remember long days spent on cheap floats in the salty water. I also remember the long walk back to the car with the hot sand burning my feet, and the sand digging into the ultra pink skin on my face, shoulders, and back. I remember the bag full of shells that came home from every trip, even though we lived near the beach and could visit every weekend, if our sunburns were healed enough to venture back out.
My children have grown to love the beach as we did, but we avoid the discomforts as much as possible. We wear sunscreen, and we try not to get get sunburned. We stay as close to the beach as possible, so we don’t have long and arduous walks back to our room, and we don’t have to pack mule everything we own down to the waterside.
One of my favorite things to do at the beach is walk. I love to walk along the edge of the water, often looking for shells or shark’s teeth. I find I am not as interested in the actual water as much as I was as a kid, but I do love the sound and smells of the salty rolls that crash or curl around my feet.
I find the beach an interesting terrain. It is hard, it is smooth, but it can be soft and uneven. It can be course in texture or as fine as flour. With each wave the comes ashore, the sands shift and the landscape changes, day to day, hour to hour, even minute to minute.
The sand of those shores have crumbled down from larger rocks, boulders, and mountains from the tributaries that feed into them. The millions of shells, crustaceans, and fish that live in the waters have been tossed and turned, battered, and crumbled, to make up the colorful salts of the sea.
And then I cannot help but think of God on the beach. He knows every grain of sand. He knows every curl of the waves. He created every intricately designed mollusk that rests on the bottom of sea. He paints the sky each day and night, reminding the stars where to hang, and the waves where to stop.
He made apostles in those churning waters. He destroyed the evil in the world with those waters. He brought peace and a promise over them as well. When I feel life is out of control, I am reminded that God created this world (and Heaven) first. As a matter of fact, in Genesis 1:2b, “and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
My girls felt that Heaven must look and feel like the beach. They felt peace and His presence as they sat on the beach looking to the horizon. To have the hustle and bustle of the world behind them, they looked to the vastness before them and felt God. I agree, you can feel His Spirit hovering over the waters at the beach.
My mother loved the beach. She was raised near the ocean as her father was in the Navy. She never left the coast. I think of the dozens of shells we must have collected between ourselves. When she died unexpectedly last year, it was only fitting that we have a celebration of her life on the same beach we spent many days on as a child. One of our best vacations was a few years ago when she traveled with me and my family to the beach at Sanibel Island. The natural setting, the throngs of shells, and calm waters were so soothing to my mom. It was just before her father passed away unexpectedly, and it was one of the best gifts I could have given her. It was certainly a treasure for me. Now, I think of her and the tranquility she felt on the beach.
Only God could create a place made of sand and water that brings us close to Him. Of course I think of a popular daytime drama that begins with the sands of time. I think about the vastness of time and the moments of our lives that fill that time briefly.
My girls had a lot less time on this earth than I would have preferred, but the God who created all the sand on the shores created them for greater than this world can offer. My mom would have loved to enjoy the beaches here for a while longer, as would I, but she will spend eternity on the shores from the other side because she found God while here.
Do you know the one true God of this world? Do you know that He created this earth, and those heavens for the sole purpose to have us together with Him for eternity? If the beaches on earth are breathtaking, soothing, and awe-inspiring, I cannot fathom what the shores of the other side must be like, if this is not the greatest thing God created for us!