Yesterday, I actually celebrated the Sabbath. I didn’t have any plans for the day or a to-do list 89 items deep (like I usually do), I just took time to be. To truly “unplug.” I walked around town, sipped on a delicious iced mocha from my favorite coffee shop & made my way to the beach near my apartment. I drive and walk past this same beach nearly every day, yet I don’t think I could ever get sick of it. There’s just something about the crashing waves and salty air that refreshes me. I walked down to the water without my phone, without knowing what time it was and without thinking about where I had to be at a certain time. I was just enjoying my day. Enjoying the moment. Living presently. And I began looking for sea glass. As I started to find piece after piece of clear and green sea glass, I realized something—sea glass is made from our mess: our pollution, our garbage, and most often, beer bottles that aren’t disposed of properly. Yet, once the glass has been broken and spread into the sea, it tumbles through the sand a few thousand times, is sanded down, and makes its way up on to the beach. After a long and probably painful journey, it ends up being something beautiful that people walk along the beach in search for.
It got me thinking—this is much like our lives. We are all broken. We all have sharp edges and can feel like we are drowning at times. Yet, through these challenges, the moments where we feel like we are drowning or can’t handle another hard thing, we are shaved down, refined and made even more beautiful than we were before. Some of the most beautiful people I know have carried the deepest hurt, pain and experiences—and I see them in a light that is far more radiant than those I know who have had a really “easy” life. Wait, who am I kidding, there is no such thing as an easy life! But I think that’s a really good thing. I think instead of always wishing we had it “easier,” we should rejoice in the fact that we are stronger because of the trials we go through. We are able to help other people more because of the hard stuff. We are always in the process of being redeemed. And we are even more beautiful once we have been shaved down and tumbled through the sand a few times. And I think life is pretty dang beautiful when you see it from that perspective!
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