I am a total sucker for the beauty of the Olde English language, but that statement is both powerful and reassuring and scary. When I was standing in front of the ocean yesterday, I started pondering life in a big way, as I often do when I go to the beach. The enormity and vastness of the sea always puts me in a spiritual and pensive mode. I wish I could be an air head just trying to catch some rays, but I always go deep-in thoughts, not the water.:)

Then for some reason I thought: The ocean restoreth and the ocean taketh away. It instantly reminded me of how powerful yet beautiful the ocean is and as much as I love it, I fear it. It is similar to the way I feel about God. I worship and uplift Him, but I fear Him all the same. It’s amazing that something so mesmerizing and calming could also sweep someone away to never be seen again. It made me realize how small I am in the vastness of the world. My little life and even smaller problems are like one grain of sand on one beach and there are thousands of beaches and infinite grains of sand.

I really as of late have thought about what I do have that I value and my life is small in comparison to what I view on other people’s “social media” lives or to their circle of acquaintances. But as much as I love my life and long for a “larger” life, I really like the uniqueness and “weeness” of my life experience. I enjoy the adventures with my daughter and seeing my mom 4 or 5 times a year for a week at a time. I enjoy talking to my mom daily on the phone and not to many other people. Though when it comes down to my birthday or holidays, I see and talk to quite a lot of people, my daily life as with many people has come to communicating pretty much through technology. No wonder so many people are so lonely. They have thousands of friends on social media and maybe 3 people they could actually call on.

Not tooting my own horn, but on my FB and IG, I have around 100 on each and I like it because I feel that the people there are people that care. Or I have a real connection with them and I could probably call on 25 or 30 of them in a time of need because they are more than just a number. Many are family and church members and childhood friends. Some are local people that I have known for a decade or a half a decade and I get together with them a few times a year.

My whole point in all of this is to say that having relationships that are meaningful really makes a difference. I do not win an award for the most followers on any of my networks, nor do I have a gaggle of cards in the mail for my birthday. But I do have a good number of people that think of me and celebrate me and love me and that is all I can ask for. Some of these people may not be what I would consider friends that I would want to be with all of the time because I do tend to attract a quirky bunch. But I am honestly glad that I have them and that they put up with me. Over the years people have been removed from life, I feel by God because I have prayed for people to leave my life that are a strain on me. But along the same vein, some of the people that I lost touch with have become some of my greatest friends/allies/family and I am so grateful to have those relationships are restored.

Things are taken and things are given and I think that if we respect the process and understand that some events happen for reasons that we will never understand that we can live our lives in peace. This is why I pray for peace and pray for goodness and pray for safety because just as there are angels watching over us ready to protect and save, there are other forces just as eager to have a hand in our undoing.

Man oh man I have become quite the serious one in my “not so old age”, but don’t worry, I am celebrating life enough over the next week that fun will balance all of this density out.:) Have a great rest of the weekend and a beautiful upcoming week. No matter if it is a day that you are celebrating or a milestone, or even a heartbreak, there is a lesson to be learned and the fact that you are here and alive and able to experience it is a miracle in itself. And if you have someone you love whom you have not reached out to lately, do it today. A few words or a kind gesture will mean more than you can imagine.

Simply~

Dee