Going Away

We're going away for the week to the beach-----yeahhhh!!!  I love, love, love the beach!  We hope to relocate there one day down the road, it has always held an unbelievable special place in my heart.  When I was younger, it was an escape for me and my family.  When we went to the beach, it was like being in a different system.  We were all more relaxed, all the rigid rules and roles fell away, and there was an amazing freedom in running down the beach and feeling the sand between my toes.  I'd swim and splash and boggy board and sun bathe all day long, and never ever got tired of it----and still don't.  From the time I see the first glimpse of the ocean from the intracoastal waterway bridge and smell my first whiff of the salty air, until we head off the island to come back home, I'm filled with an unmistakable joy and a grandiose feeling of being in exactly the right place at precisely the right time.  That's living, in the moment, feeling fully alive and fully invested and fully appreciative of the life that is yours for the taking.  There's something unbelievably healing about standing by the ocean and taking in the enormity of it and I always think, "I can't believe that this never stops, these waves roll in one after the other, every second of every day of every week of every month of every year of every decade.....whether I'm standing here watching it or not!"  And then, I'm engulfed again in the realization of how great my God is, and how if He can create all of this and keep it all in constant balance all the time; how small is my life to manage in comparison?  How easy it is for Him to take care of me.  How miniscule my concerns must be in regard to His abilities and power!  Then I'm filled again with an overwhelming love and adoration and respect for the gentleness with which He handles my heart; with a gratitude of all  that He has blessed me with; and an unwavering fervor to do whatever it is that I have been created to do, whether I get to stay in my comfort zone or not.  It's not an obligatory feeling, it's one of ultimate respect and a desire to show Him how much I appreciate what I have, and who I am in Him.