The Hunt for Shark

After yet another disappointing blow from the doctor last week. I left his office determined I would not fall apart, and that I was going to go about what I had planned for the rest of that day - grab a chocolate ice cream from Hotel Del Coronado and have a walk along Coronado Island beach before the two-hour descent down the mountain back to the valley where I live.  At the beach, I kicked off my shoes, rolled up my jeans to my knees, and started to walk along the water to enjoy the cool waves roll over my feet. I watched the small waves come in and out, covering my feet and splashing onto me. I hope I never grow too old to enjoy this.  I started looking at shells and was on what seemed to be a fruitless pursuit of shark teeth UNTIL… I began to pretend that ANYTHING triangular-shaped was in fact - a sharks tooth! I then excitedly began my sandy collection! I love sharks…but that’s another story.

As the small waves would recede back into the ocean they would wash off a layer of sand, uncovering a new sampling of prospective “sharks teeth”. However, before I had the opportunity to grab a potential gem, the water would come crashing back and wash it away or cover it with sand. After a few times, I just stood there. I was no longer at the beach, no longer on the island, no longer feeling the water – I was clearly in His presence and I just stood there and allowed him to share His love with me. The doctor's bad news was finally far from my mind.

Our problems, like these fresh batches of shells the waves unveil, come and go so quickly. What are shells? They may have once housed a living creature. Something that was conceived, grew, lived, and then died. A shell is all that is left. Our trials, when conceived, seem to have no ending date. As problems grow, they seem to attach to us and become this permanent fixture we carry wherever we go.  However, there are seasons for all things, and at some point, our trials end. When that trial dies and is over we can cast off what we carried around for so long. I saw all these beautiful shells that the water had yet to reach. They were all clumped together and I saw them as the remnants of hundreds of trials which proceeded my present one but were now long over. How silly to think that this current situation I face, is any bigger to God than any of the other ones from the past? The water (oh I love this) comes in and unveils a fresh batch of trials (shells) He has just taken people through.

 “So go on baby girl. Enjoy your time at the beach. I can make even the remains of trials, into something wonderful. Go collect your “sharks teeth”.