Tag: beach

Categories
Daily Post

Beachy Thoughts

There’s got to be something to this blogging from the beach. I think I could just about move my entire operation down here, as the repetitive crashing off the waves sure helps the mind heal. That and some nicely prepared grouper filets.

But it is a little unfair for me to taunt you with ‘the weather is here, I wish you were beautiful’ lines, so off to something great.

I am not sure what this has to do with the beach, except that it may reflect my thinking as I strolled the beach this morning.

Enjoy the day!

The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life,

but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit. (Proverbs 15:4 NIV84)

Categories
Daily Post

Shifting Sands

Well, this is a pretty predictable post, but it’s still a lesson that we all need to be reminded on at times.

On Sunday, the children dug a hole to China.  As we left the beach on Sunday, they had great expectations that they would continue to dig the hole on Monday morning.  Of course as we enter the beach on Monday the hole was completely filled in my the surf. How depressing.

So, two quick passing thoughts from the beach before I drift back off into a lazy morning nap.

First, a gentle reminder of the futility of building on things that will not sustain,and can be quickly washed away.

 

26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  Matthew 7:26 New International Version (NIV)

And second, an uplifting message of persistence.  You see the kiddos, just grabbed their shovels and dug another hole.  Of course we all know digging holes builds character.

8 Do not gloat over me, my enemy!
Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness,
the LORD will be my light. Micah 7:8 New International Version (NIV)

Categories
Daily Post

Life is Good Today

My sleepy little head was awoken this morning by The Zac Brown Band’s little diddy “Toes in the Water.” I laid there for a few minutes wishing I was on the beach and far away for the ‘normal’ days of life, until I eventually convinced myself that I could not just be singing the song magically travel to the beach.

However, I could not get the song out of my head, and I started wondering why I could not approach today like a day at the beach and forgot about the struggles of raising a teenager, the boundaries at work and the fact that I don’t have a money tree growing in my back yard.  It’s going to be a stretch, but I thought I might give it a try.

So, while I ironed by shirt I penned this adaptation to Zac’s words:

I got my toes in my loafers,

I am stuck on the tele,

Not a worry in the world,

I bought my sweet tea from Shelly

Yeah! That’s good stuff!.  (Amy commented that it maybe have to go on the greatest hits album, I am not sure I she convinced me, but I like it! 🙂 )

Life is good today!  Those little worries mean nothing compared to the promise we live with!  So how about you, post your adaptation of Zac’s song and make today a day at the beach.

9-10 I’m happy from the inside out,
and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed.
You canceled my ticket to hell—
that’s not my destination!

11 Now you’ve got my feet on the life path,
all radiant from the shining of your face.
Ever since you took my hand,
I’m on the right way.  Psalm 16:9-11 The Message (MSG)

(Oh and actually I by my sweet tea from Michelle, but I didn’t want make the verse rhyme with that – that could have been a little negative!)

 

Categories
Daily Post

Comfort Zone

Wow!  What a fantastic week!  Ray and Joel did a great job sharing their experiences and trials this week, and I want to thank them for that.  Amy and I are heading to meet up with the boys this morning.  They just finished up a week of skim boarding camp in Delaware.

The interesting thing about that is that one of them was just not really excited about this at all and was quite nervous about the proposition.  It was the whole concept of a new endeavor that had him a little worried.  Turns out, or so it seems, he has had a very enjoyable experience. And it was the same for us, this is the first time we had left both boys and gone our own way for YEARS ( maybe FOREVER).

And so it is with our lives.  Ray even referred to it yesterday.  Sometimes, we feel so comfortable in our own place that its hard to leave that comfort zone and experience new things, or even to challenge our selves to grow.  But as Mary Poppins says “a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down” and as our Lord and Savior says ” a mustard seed of faith moves mountains”.

Step out there today.  Whether it is forcing yourself to speak to someone, sharing your faith, expressing your thoughts, experiencing something new, or even ordering something different from the menu!  Or Maybe you need to let go, as Amy and I did, but in a larger sense and put more of the handling of life’s events in the hands of the Lord.  Do it today, step out of your comfort zone and see where you get taken.

8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (New International Version)

Categories
Daily Post

Almost Perfect

As you know last week I was blessed to be able to spend a week on the Gulf coast at one of my most favorite places – the beach.  Oh the sun, the warm sand, the soft waves.  No. not at all.  Because of the recent Hurricane Alex, we spent most of the week being drenched by the feeder bands and then the remaining parts of the hurricane after it come upon shore.  It was really disappointed, and quite thought provoking.

One day after spending a little too much time at the house ( even though I really can’t complain, the porches and the porch furniture at this house provided a very relaxing setting for a rainy day) I decided to take a rainy walk on the beach.   As I walked on this lonely rainy beach, and I listened to the roar of the waves and watched the dance between the sand and the water, the beauty of this tainted day become very apparent.  Also, during the trip I found two shells.  Two shells that were almost perfect.  One a Nautilus and the other a nice conch-type shell.  Both just a little bit broken or covered with ‘junk from the sea”, however both are still very beautiful.  It was in these shells that I finally realized something I have always thought – that the beach is so much like our lives.  Everyday its different, and even what seems to be the most disappointing of times there is beauty.

Today, you may be dealing with disappointment in your life or in your work, or in your relationships, or maybe even in the mirror. Look past the imperfections and look for the beauty.  These two shells are the only two I brought back this year and I hope that each time I glance over at them, I will remember that even when life is full of apparent disappointments that many blessing still exist.

24 This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24 (New International Version)

Be Salty!