***
I had a friend stop by last night and --well, I'm pretty sure you and I both are getting tired of the excuses of why I keep missing out on the gathering on Twitter! My best explanation right now is: Summer! One day soon, I will make it back!
Our One Word Prompt this week is OCEAN, which just so happens to be one of my very favorite destinations and that friend I mentioned above? Yeah - we talked about the ocean and how we can't wait to get back there together! This is Five Minute Friday! Let's go...
{GO}
I have long had this love affair with the ocean.
I just can't get over it... how it beckons me to come closer... to sit and listen... to watch the mesmerizing rhythm of the tide pushing and pulling and how it reminds me that I am oh so small... and yet, oh so loved and held and protected!
It's so romantic... when it's warm and sunny and the kites are flying and the kids are playing in the waves... and when it's stormy and windy and the rains are coming at you sideways and threaten to blow you off course.
Either way...
I will take to the ocean
and lean into the Lord...
for it is there that it seems my eyes re-align to see Him, and my heart is once again recalibrated to beat to the rhythm of His!
I hear Him clearly there and so whether I am in need of rest... in need of pausing so that, as Eugene Peterson says, my soul can catch up to my body, or I'm in need of the re-syncing of my heart and hushing the rush of my bossy lists so that I can hear His still small voice again...
I feel the pull to dip my toes at Oceans' edge and let the wind whip around me... I feel His Presence and His joy... I feel oh so tiny - and yet not at all insignificant.
Before I truly knew Him, I met Him as a child at the beach... The one family vacation that I vividly remember (albeit one filled with stomach flu's and sickness and rainy days and being stung by a jellyfish) - I recall in technicolor wonder.
As newlyweds, we took to the sea...
It is where the Lord began to knit together our girlie... the best dream I ever dared to dream started at the beach... and it seems so many of my other dreams have begun there as well!
No wonder it calls my name!
The sea is where we took the majority of our summer family vacations. Often we would escape the desert heat with our best friends and their girlies and spend a week with our toes in the sand, watching our Littles run and dig, build and play... watching them jump waves and splash and scream in delight... we found ourselves watching dreams begin, unfold, and come true...
In fact, this year, we get to continue the tradition and we are going to our beloved tiny beach town with our best friends and our all grown up girlies, and their babies, too!
What a gift the ocean is to us!
To see the wonder continue...
to feel the pull to the ocean and the sand...
Much like the moons' gravitational pull
effects the ocean waters,
I feel a tugging on my heart and spirit
to come closer, to sit still,
to walk out on the water with Him!
I recently referred to My Honey
as a "Glorious Wander"
and for Father's Day,
I found this cute little
wooden sign that reads,
rose up to the surface and beckoned me
to dream again.
This dreaming again life
is lived out as we take to the sea
and let Him breathe life and love
and joy and hope into new dreams.
{STOP}
There is just something about "thus far and no farther, this is where your proud waves stop." (Job 38:11) that breathes trust and rest in me.
No matter what storms I may be facing,
remembering that God knows every speck of sand,
and He controls the Wind and the Waves...
it helps me to let go and release
the things I cannot control,
and once again give Him permission
to control me.
Of course, while He does want obedience...
He wants partnership more than control.
He wants submission more than
watching us kick against the goads.
He wants us to be grateful
and to learn from our battles,
or, as Spurgeon said,
He wants us to learn to kiss the waves
that throw us up against the Rock of Ages.
He desires us to respond to
His gravitational pull of Love
with a surrendered heart
and hands wide open,
ready to receive.
As I missed out on the gathering of the tribe on twitter, I sat with the above-mentioned friend and we reflected back over the years of all of our beach vacations and we dreamed ahead to the planned trip later this summer where we get to go together along with our spouses and all of our adult children --and their babies!!!
No matter why I go to the beach or what state I find myself in when I wander to the seashore and let the waves lick my ankles...
Always --I find Him there, waiting for me... beckoning me to come out on the water with Him.
And always, my answer is yes!
Our One Word Prompt this week is OCEAN, which just so happens to be one of my very favorite destinations and that friend I mentioned above? Yeah - we talked about the ocean and how we can't wait to get back there together! This is Five Minute Friday! Let's go...
{GO}
I have long had this love affair with the ocean.
I just can't get over it... how it beckons me to come closer... to sit and listen... to watch the mesmerizing rhythm of the tide pushing and pulling and how it reminds me that I am oh so small... and yet, oh so loved and held and protected!
It's so romantic... when it's warm and sunny and the kites are flying and the kids are playing in the waves... and when it's stormy and windy and the rains are coming at you sideways and threaten to blow you off course.
Either way...
I will take to the ocean
and lean into the Lord...
for it is there that it seems my eyes re-align to see Him, and my heart is once again recalibrated to beat to the rhythm of His!
I hear Him clearly there and so whether I am in need of rest... in need of pausing so that, as Eugene Peterson says, my soul can catch up to my body, or I'm in need of the re-syncing of my heart and hushing the rush of my bossy lists so that I can hear His still small voice again...
I feel the pull to dip my toes at Oceans' edge and let the wind whip around me... I feel His Presence and His joy... I feel oh so tiny - and yet not at all insignificant.
Before I truly knew Him, I met Him as a child at the beach... The one family vacation that I vividly remember (albeit one filled with stomach flu's and sickness and rainy days and being stung by a jellyfish) - I recall in technicolor wonder.
As newlyweds, we took to the sea...
It is where the Lord began to knit together our girlie... the best dream I ever dared to dream started at the beach... and it seems so many of my other dreams have begun there as well!
No wonder it calls my name!
The sea is where we took the majority of our summer family vacations. Often we would escape the desert heat with our best friends and their girlies and spend a week with our toes in the sand, watching our Littles run and dig, build and play... watching them jump waves and splash and scream in delight... we found ourselves watching dreams begin, unfold, and come true...
In fact, this year, we get to continue the tradition and we are going to our beloved tiny beach town with our best friends and our all grown up girlies, and their babies, too!
What a gift the ocean is to us!
To see the wonder continue...
to feel the pull to the ocean and the sand...
Much like the moons' gravitational pull
effects the ocean waters,
I feel a tugging on my heart and spirit
to come closer, to sit still,
to walk out on the water with Him!
I recently referred to My Honey
as a "Glorious Wander"
and for Father's Day,
I found this cute little
wooden sign that reads,
"Wander Often, Wonder Always..."...And something deep within me
rose up to the surface and beckoned me
to dream again.
This dreaming again life
is lived out as we take to the sea
and let Him breathe life and love
and joy and hope into new dreams.
{STOP}
There is just something about "thus far and no farther, this is where your proud waves stop." (Job 38:11) that breathes trust and rest in me.
No matter what storms I may be facing,
remembering that God knows every speck of sand,
and He controls the Wind and the Waves...
it helps me to let go and release
the things I cannot control,
and once again give Him permission
to control me.
Of course, while He does want obedience...
He wants partnership more than control.
He wants submission more than
watching us kick against the goads.
He wants us to be grateful
and to learn from our battles,
or, as Spurgeon said,
He wants us to learn to kiss the waves
that throw us up against the Rock of Ages.
He desires us to respond to
His gravitational pull of Love
with a surrendered heart
and hands wide open,
ready to receive.
As I missed out on the gathering of the tribe on twitter, I sat with the above-mentioned friend and we reflected back over the years of all of our beach vacations and we dreamed ahead to the planned trip later this summer where we get to go together along with our spouses and all of our adult children --and their babies!!!
No matter why I go to the beach or what state I find myself in when I wander to the seashore and let the waves lick my ankles...
Always --I find Him there, waiting for me... beckoning me to come out on the water with Him.
And always, my answer is yes!
The Five Minute Friday community is the best gathering of Flash mob writers around! We wait for the one-word prompt and we throw caution and hesitation and editing to the wind, and we let our fingers fly and our feelings feel and we just wait and see what flows out in five minutes (or so! Because, grace!) and we hit Publish without second-guessing or backspacing!
Linking up with Kate Motaung and the #fmfparty Community today. Five Minute Fridays give us the chance to dive right in and share what He puts on our hearts! Click HERE to read what others have to say about "OCEAN"
Linking up with Kate Motaung and the #fmfparty Community today. Five Minute Fridays give us the chance to dive right in and share what He puts on our hearts! Click HERE to read what others have to say about "OCEAN"
The FMF lowdown: The gathering happens on Twitter on Thursday nights & then we write our hearts out & hit publish all over the interwebs on Thursday & Friday (& sometimes on Tuesdays!) It's where we encourage & uplift... where we share prayer requests & praise reports... where we talk food & friends & we find support & kindred hearts. It's where we are reminded that life is good & God is good & we're not alone... & then we all write for five minutes flat, a flash mob of wordsmiths letting our hearts & our fingers do the talking tapping & we hit publish before we can second guess it all away. We'd love to
I'm also linking up with the lovely writer communities linked below:
Crystal Twaddell for #FreshMarketFriday
"Always --I find Him there, waiting for me" Oh how true this is for me too!! All of the times that I have really drawn near to Him or all of the times He has spoken to me or changed me, they have all been at the ocean. Are you from Oregon? I recognize that beach :)
ReplyDeleteHey there! We are actually from WA State, but we love us some Oregon Coastline! The photo's above are from Ecola State Park in Cannon Beach, and Seaside, and Manzanita! Thanks so much for stopping by!
DeleteBeautiful. I am in the very middle of this continent, too far away from either ocean for an easy trip. But oh how thankful I am for the lakes, and those trips to the Great Lakes, which are the oceans for the Midwest! Being at the water's edge always stirs my soul also. Thank you for sharing these beautiful reflections.
ReplyDeleteI forget just how spoiled we are out here in the PNW... we live in a small town desert but we are literally hours away from anything --the beach, the mountains, lakes, rivers, big cities, rural communities... and while we enjoy a hike in the mountains or a day at the lake --it truly is the ocean that beckons me to come! xoxo
DeleteOh, the ocean...my favorite place too. I spent much of my growing up years in San Diego and on the beaches. I love the Pacific Ocean so much and it beckons me whenever I get back there. My youngest sister lives on Kauai and, of course, we are talking right in the middle of the mighty Pacific. I love to visit her too. I love the way you tie the ocean to our Creator. He is so majestic and mighty. The ocean is both. The ocean has always attracted me because of the power it holds and the undulating movement of the waters upon the shores. So much reflects the Creator of that body of water as we are to reflect Him too. Praising Him with you.
ReplyDeleteCaring through Christ, ~ linda
Yes to all of this! Thanks so much for stopping by, Linda!
Delete