Yesterday I took a break from renovating our kitchen and went to the beach. It was the first time in 3 months. The kids were roused out of bed, handed a bagel, and loaded up in the van. These days, the beaches in Santa Cruz are only open until 11:00am so we have to get there early. It was a moody, misty morning. Cold. But still so good to be at the ocean.
The thing that amazes me so much about the ocean is that it’s always going, whether you’re there to see it or not. It still churns its waves and the tides still roll in and out, night and day. There aren’t many things in nature that keep moving despite us: flowers just stand there, trees grow slowly, birds, bugs, and critters scurry away when we approach.
The ocean doesn’t care about us. It crashes and swirls on and on and we are utterly insignificant next to it. And that is precisely what is comforting about standing next to the ocean: to know that it will keep going despite what is going on in the world around us. It will sustain life to all its creatures and keep crashing its waves over and over until the end.
And so, I go to the ocean to be reminded that there is a world beyond mine: I don’t matter as much as I think I do, and the events of today don’t matter as much as I think they do. There is a God who sustains all of us and holds even the oceans in His hands. And that knowledge can bring peace if I allow it to.
Autumn's Writing 