Wednesday, January 18, 2012

A Three Day Vacation


This weekend we were able to to sneak away to the seaside. The weather wasn't very "beachy" with an average temperature of about 28 degrees, but the sun was shining and the air was clear and crisp.  Walking along the beach makes my top ten list of "favorite things to do." My blood pressure goes down. My breathing is more even. The sound of the surf calms me in a way that not many other things can.  I feel at home near the ocean.  I managed a walk along the beach everyday, and even convinced the boys to join me a few times.


To me, it's impossible to walk along the ocean and worry about my problems. I look at the expanse of the ocean, I watch the seagulls skimming the water, I hear and feel the waves of water crash into the shore again and again.  I feel so inconsequential and yet so a part of it all. I see where none of the little things matter, yet I also see how every little movement and action makes the world exactly as it is meant to be.  How can I worry about how we are going to find the money for home repairs or whether or not I can build a fence to keep the deer our of my garden when I am looking straight at god?  For to me, when I look at the ocean I see god. Not a long-bearded-man-on-a-pearly-throne kind of god, but the beauty and peace that comes when everything flows with all the beauty that is possible. To me, god is the inner peace that we experience, however fleetingly, when we stop fighting and embrace life exactly how it is. Not how we want it to be, nor how we think it should be, but exactly as it is.  The gull must swoop down on the crab to find its nourishment, the water must erode the beach that I so enjoy.  This is their nature. This is what they do.  And it is as beautiful as the sunrise that paints the sky with oranges and pinks and purples.

 

Peace.
That is what I feel when I am near the ocean.  A sense that all is right with the world. That I can embrace the joy that is in my life without worry.


A mysterious sea-pod washed ashore.

A window of peace into this hectic world of ours. A winter weekend of  long walks, reading, knitting, playing games, doing crossword puzzles, making fires, spending time with family. 

A new basket filled with yarn.  Joy!
   

 A family board game on a cold winter's day.  Joy!


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