We haven’t made it to the Jersey shore yet this year. Lord willing that will change next week when we spend a day there as Jerry’s preferred way to celebrate his birthday. We enjoy playing arcade games together (if you ever see Jerry missing a couple teeth it’s probably because his mouth is close to the height of the air hockey table as the puck competitively flies back and forth), sitting on the boardwalk and listening to the sounds of the ocean and birds, watching the tide roll in and out. It allows us to just be and spend time talking about everything and nothing all at the same time.
Being at the shore (or for those of you who don’t live in the Mid Atlantic — the beach, ocean, or coast) reminds me of God’s care. I can’t help but sing over and over in my mind the song, O the Deep, Deep love of Jesus. (Words by S Trevor Francis, music by Thomas J Williams )
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean, in it’s fullness over me,
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love;
Leading onward, leading homeward to my glorious rest above.
The other thing I like to do when at the beach is to collect interesting shells. They may not be interesting to anyone else, but they are to me. On one exploration I was captured by the amount of teeny, tiny shells in perfect shape that covered the sand. Inside each one was a tiny living organism.
Into my pondering mode I went – thinking about how these trillions and probably kazillions of gallons of water moved with such force and beat up and wear down the sturdiest of shells, and as we have seen recently, houses and communities. Yet within this power house are these small shells that find their home. Somehow in the pounding of the waves they are not completely worn away or lost. I was also struck with how many there were, just in the small area I was in. I tried to imagine how many more are across all the other beaches around the world! Just as God knows the number of grains of sand on the seashore I am convinced He knows the location and status of each shell and organism in the oceans and on the beach.
My concluding thoughts of wonder and amazement took me to the Creator who made even those tiny living creatures, and housed them in a perfect little shell home as they develop. Why does He care about such things when He is also directing the winds and waves? I know at least one of the reasons. Because I need the reminder. Every time I look at those tiny shells in my jar of bigger shells, I am reminded that God cares about the seemingly little things, in the seas and in my life.
Often we hear how nothing is too big or hard for God. I need to remember nothing is too little or insignificant to take to God either.