When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused. Rainer Maria Rilke
Meditation: I remember growing up and having most of our family vacations be close to the seaside. It was the best time out of the year. When I became a teenager, I would get up early in the morning, take my journal with me and sit in the cool morning air at the beach, watching the tide come in and the sun rise, listening to the seagulls and feeling the wind in my face. I loved how far I could look. Being so small and yet part of a larger seemingly endless landscape put my confused and uneasy teenage thoughts and feelings into perspective. I usually returned home calmer and somehow comforted. These past days we took a four day beach vacation as a family and chose to spend it on one of the Georgia islands. There I watched my teen daughters enjoy the ocean with its waves. They had been pretty stressed with school lately. Swimming in the ocean seemed to wash away all their tension and anxiety. They returned with a glow and a laughter that I had been missing on their faces for months. Amazing how the sea cleanses our soul and puts things into perspective.
Prayer: God of the sea, we feel Your healing embrace through the water and the sun. When we are confused and overwhelmed with life, the ocean calms us. The winds whisper gently our name. The rhythm of the sea brings us back to ourselves. We become one with nature, one with You and one with ourselves again. Thank You for the beauty of the sea. Thank You for Your healing embrace. Amen
If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139: 9-10 (ESV)
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