Broken Seashells Have Purpose
I love all things beach. The breeze, the sand between my toes, the no-two-alike seashells, the salty air and the sunshine. Each day of any beach vacation, I have two goals — a sunrise walk and to experience the sunset. This week those sunrise walks have been difficult for a few reasons. One of which I am still processing and might share that another day in another post. The other difficulty has been pain, mainly in my feet and low back.
Even when at my most fit, walking or running on the beach is not easy. The sand shifts underfoot. There are many obstacles that affect where your feet should land with each step. The breeze and the beauty of the unique masterpieces that our Creator paints in the sky each morning make it SO worth it.
The circle of life of all these things has been on my mind a lot this week. Maybe my mind goes there because I’m getting older or because I am seeking to be mindful of even the smallest of things. There is not much that is smaller than a grain of sand, right?
On my many, many, (there are never enough) beach walks over the years, I’ve always admired seashells and tried to NOT walk on them. They once held life. They are fragile. They are each unique, like snowflakes. They are precious. Occasionally, I pick up a few, but I usually leave the shell-hunting for those enthusiasts. My love of the beach is in the sun and the calming sound of the ocean waves.
When trying to NOT walk on the shells, I either must deal with soft areas of sand that I sink into, or very slanted areas. Due to my feet and ankle issues both of varieties of turf cause my back to hurt. So this year, I walk on the shells, because where the beds of shells are is more even. It is like walking on gravel. I felt guilty hearing the crunch under my feet. Crunch, guilt, crunch, sadness over breaking these precious sea gems, crunch, crunch, crunch, guilt, guilt, guilt.
How could I turn this guilt around? Can I be more mindful and grateful, even while enduring the back pain? As I walked along, shells crunching underneath, I was not hurting a living creature. My desire to walk and enjoy the sunrise was purely out of love for all the Creator has for me to enjoy. Then I started really looking at the minutia of it. What are seashells? What’s their purpose? How do they come to be? In their simplest form, they start out as a grain of sand. Where did it originate?
Of course God made sense of the waters, He put the sand there as the perfect soil for all the varieties of sea plant life and to be used by sea life. A grain of sand can eventually become a pearl or be used to build a home for a sea creature. The sea creatures that they once housed no longer need their protective homes. Now the shells are returned to the sea, beat down by waves, broken apart. Then landing on a beach where a child picks it up because of it’s beauty or where I walk on it and break it down even more. Eventually, those tiny pieces make it back to the depths of the ocean to be used again to build a home for another sea creature or as soil to anchor a sea plant.
These pieces of shells washed up on the beach so that they could temporarily be the “gravel” under my feet. It was their purpose this morning to help me along toward my goal of seeing the painting of the morning sun in the sky. How can I possibly allow myself to feel guilt when they are there specifically for me?
No where in that circle of life is the life of that grain of sand easy. It’s covered with nacre as it becomes a pearl — this process takes YEARS. Seashells are stepped on, broken down, beat down, moved by violent waves. Shells are polished by the salt water, they are given beauty, and purpose.
What part of the circle of life are you experiencing?
Are you enjoying the taste of saltiness or is the salt burning your eyes making it hard to see the good?
Are you feeling stepped on or are you floating free toward your next big purpose?
Are you feeling blue or has a gorgeous sunrise made your day start perfectly?
Where ever you are today know these things:
It is temporary, the next big wave will come along soon and every thing will change. Be grateful for the big waves, the broken moments and the process of becoming a pearl.
Change is good, without change eventually all the sand would become seashells, and there would be no soil to hold down the roots of sea plants.
Beauty comes in the hard moments when we keep moving forward instead of staying in the hard moments. (someday I will share how 2012 was a hard moment that last about 3 years!)
We hear a lot about gratefulness, and we all have our “grateful” Thanksgiving season decorations, but what I am learning this year (finally!) is to be truly grateful for all things. I am grateful for the pain that forced me to walk on the beach instead of running as I have done in years past (and as I want to do again!). Had I just been running along, I might not have thought about these grains of sand, their purpose, their circle of life. I might not have been able to see what God is showing all of us. We are ALL important to Him — even if we feel like we are as insignificant as a grain of sand seems to be. He uses the broken moments as well as the beautiful moments to draw us near to Him.
Thank You Lord for showing me the circle of life of a grain of sand for providing just for me the beds of shells to walk over so I could meet with You this morning at sunrise.
