THE BEACH

The beach here is always changing. Our neighbor that lives here all summer said “I love the beach because it is always changing. You never know what it will be like. It changes every day.” Honestly I kind of thought she was crazy because I’m from Kansas and I know a lot about the beach, and the beach is……. the beach.

We got here at the end of August and the beach was like a postcard. The sand was nice and clean, smooth, so soft, no seaweed. Right now there is a cliff (4-5 foot drop) that got here about two weeks ago. It never used to be there. When that cliff first got here, there was hardly any beach. Then it came even closer and when you got to the end of the walkway there was the cliff and the waves were crashing right up to it. It went from a huge smooth sandy beach, to tiny beach, to a drop off cliff beach…..and as most flatlanders know, fields don’t change like that in Kansas.

There can be different items that get washed up too, from driftwood to a big bench from who knows where to a telephone pole (huge normal sized telephone pole covered with barnacles) to tons of seaweed. It’s always changing! Our neighbor was right.

The beach that is always changing reminds me of life, life is always changing. People come and go, things come and go. The beach goes through seasons, life goes through seasons. When you hear the word beach you typically think- it’s sunny, 80 degrees, no wind, perfect day. That’s the beach on occasion but not always, it has its seasons. Just like life has its seasons. There’s a bible passage that talks a lot about seasons:

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 “To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven: 2 A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted. 3 A time to kill and a time to heal, a time break down and a time to build up. 4 A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. 5 A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and time to refrain from embracing. 6 A time to get and time to lose, a time to keep and time to cast away. 7 A time to rend and a time to sew, a time to keep silence and a time to speak. 8 A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”

Now that is time for a lot of different things! The beach looks different on different days and life will look different on different days. It comforting to know change has always been and will be but it is even more comforting knowing He is with us every day of every season.

Another time of change is coming for us. We’ll be packing up in a week or so and taking five weeks to get home for the holidays. We have a scratch off map and are excited to mark off some new states. We won’t be “working” we’ll just be adventuring. I’m sure things will go “wrong” but it’ll be a part of the season, this new season that He has given us!