Oceans

Ocean – Just hearing that word whispered to me can send my soul into a start of calmness.  For me the rise and fall of these vast waters and the sounds of the crashing waves have been known to lull me to sleep.  Can you recall your first encounter with the ocean waves dancing over your feet?  I’ve been drawn to the ocean from a very early age, and it all started with our family’s summer trips to the beach.  Even today, when choosing a restaurant or planning a vacation, close proximity to water is one of my top priorities.  However, I’ve experienced both the roughness (and unfortunately destruction) that these waters can bring, and the peace that is evident in my face, just gazing at its beauty.   Our oceans are complex, each unique in many ways – different in size, with hundreds of shades of blues and greens, not to mention many other mysteries that lie below the surface.  The word oceans can also be used to describe something that is difficult to comprehend the infinite, as when my mother used to sign her cards “Oceans of love,” or when someone prays for an ocean of hope.  What about the oceans of love that God has for you and me?  It’s more than we could ever imagine!  Can you picture for a moment God’s hands stretched out, creating the Earth’s oceans?  It’s hard to grasp not only the vastness of His creation, but that His oceans of love that He offers to every one of us.  Even when our lives go through our own rough seas, causing us to panic, He is still there.

Living close to the ocean, many of us have recently witnessed and experienced their fury; and some were not so fortunate, losing homes,  material possessions, and so much more.  However, out of the storms of our lives, God sends His oceans of love through others that show up to help us weather these storms.   I dedicate this week to those of you that were caught in the ocean’s fury recently and to those that have shown up to help.  I pray that all its victims  will hold onto the hope and belief that God is still there, opening wide His arms full of oceans of love for you.  God bless you all!

“He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them – he remains faithful forever.”  Psalms 146:6