A View From a Beach

A little investment can yield big rewards. At least that is what I am hoping for in 2023. In December I had an opportunity to make the best of all investments.

First, I heard about this opportunity on the radio. Then, I went to the store just to make sure it was true. When I got there the chance of lifetime was verified. I could purchase, for $2, a small tag at Wendy’s Restaurant and I would get a “junior” size frosty every time I came in with that tag.

I have to admit this small indulgence brings me great joy. I have used the reward of a small chocolate frosty as a treat when I feel the need to celebrate a special accomplishment. It could be completing a project I have been working all month, it could be successfully officiating a difficult soccer game, or maybe just a need to cool off on a hot day.

Now I can celebrate even more often with less expense, and fewer calories.

Something else I have been working on this fall is to be more prayerful in my journey on this earth. That is, being more attentive to the Spirit as I go about my daily tasks. Instead of only taking time to pray when a special concern or sense of gratitude comes around, I am trying to be more ready to hear what God has to say to me.

Prayer is supposed to be a dialogue, and I can easily fall into the habit of talking and asking without listening to the thoughts God has for me. In fact, sometimes I just need to take a breath and open my heart for a moment to see if there is anything I need to hear before I initiate the conversation.

This past fall, two days after I had been examined by the Committee on Ministry for Mission Presbytery, I was asked “How retired are you?” Both Joan and I had been reticent to make any major commitments in our first year of retirement, but I was offered an opportunity to serve a bilingual church once a month for a six month period of time.

I was asked to serve a population with whom I have had little experience. Yet, here was an opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and place myself in the hands of this congregation. When would I ever have a chance to immerse myself in a short term, minimal commitment, to learn from folks I would not normally rub shoulders with? We agreed to embrace this opportunity.

As I become more attuned to the nudging of the Spirit, the more likely I will be to participate in the redemption of our world. My part is a small one, but I believe the rewards will be great.

So I have tried to start out 2023 with a fresh commitment to hearing the Spirit and indulging myself in service and in rewards. And though I have to make sure I don’t make too many trips to Wendy’s, I hope to grow in my faith and to pay closer attention to those unexpected opportunities to participate in the tikkun olam (repairing of the world).

I like it when words or phrases can mean different things. When I first thought about a way to speak as an individual, but to remind us of our commonness I considered the many different grains in the universe.

First I considered there are all kinds of grains. There are wheat, barley, oats, rye, and other varieties of plants that all can be used to feed living things on this planet. Each grain has special characteristics which make it different from all the others and each of these grains can be used in the making of bread, which gives us life.

Yet, I then thought that there are more varieties of people than there are grains. Though there are a plethora, don’t you just love that word, of grains there is a limited number of them. I wanted to think of some thing in this world which could symbolize with a greater number, the vast variety of people in the world.

It was then I thought of another grain, the sands which populate the beaches of the world. Just as each snowflake is unique among all the snowflakes I think each grain of sand has a uniqueness different from all others and it would still be considered a grain of the all encompassing word “sand.”

I also thought that though there are numerous beaches throughout the world there is only one clan called the “McGrady-Beach” clan. We are few, but we are a combination of two families with one last name. We are part of the human race, but we are unique in the make up of our gene pool. So all those who are connected to the Beaches may have come from different places and different families, yet we all have something in common, a name which ties us together.

Again I want all of us to be able to recognize each one of us is unique among the billions of individuals from the past, present and also those yet to come, but we all populate the same universe. We, each one of us, have lived with different experiences which influence our personalities and though we may have similar character traits, we live those traits out in our own unique way.

So as I address all grains of sand in the universe I hope you can acknowledge that your are special, see Psalm 139, but you, we, are here together. And together we can use the resources we have been given or developed, knowledge, talents, and commodities, to further the good in this world.

We each play a special part on the beach which we have been placed, so let us celebrate our uniqueness, but let us also make way for others to be able to celebrate their own uniqueness as well.

Beaches unite, to bring glory to God.

“The glory of God is found in a human being fully alive.”

Pádraig Ó Tuama

One thing I like about the mid-west are the changes in the weather. I remember when we lived in Reinbeck, Iowa they always said if you don’t like the weather, wait ten minutes and it will change.

Of course there is a hidden assumption that you will like the change that occurs or perhaps this is just an optimistic point of view, that whatever comes next will be better than what was.

Whether you like lots of changes in weather in a short amount of time or not we don’t get to choose what the weather will be, we can only prepare for what might be.

This is also an example of life itself. I can choose how I will react to what unfolds before me in my life, but I can’t always choose what will happen. This is a good reason for me to look for somehow I can cope with the unknown.

One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 104. This Psalm tells us who is charge in this world. It is helpful for me to know that I am not in charge. It also challenges me when I consider all that is not going well. If God is in charge why are so many devastating events occurring? I don’t understand this and can only ask the question, God where are you when my good friend is diagnosed with cancer or the ending of the drought in California ends in such a horrific way?

What part have we played in all of this if at all? How have we taken care of our world and where have we put our resources? Do we plan for those unexpected disasters or do we use the knowledge and resources we have to battle debilitating diseases?

I think the difficult part is that we want to be able to make choices with how we live our lives. We want to be able to chose where we will spend our resources, but we don’t always have the wisdom to make the best choice.

I think all we can do is learn from our experience and pray that our intentions are pure. We want free will, we don’t want God to dictate what we should choose or do, but we need to then ask God to help us make good choices. Not so we will earn favor with God, but so that the world will be a better place today than it was tomorrow.

It also means we need to celebrate those days which are good, be it good in the weather or in the battle to fight disease or disaster. Let us keep the view that life can be a great celebration if continually strive to be the people God has made us to be.

Walking along the beach with you and hoping for a better tomorrow today.

A View from A Beach, one of the many grains of sand in the universe.

When I first thought about an all encompassing title I considered what is the most common object in all the world. I thought of grains of sand on beaches. Also wasn’t it God who said that Abraham would have more descendants than all the grains of sand on the shore.

Certainly we are all creations of God and each one of us is unique and each one of us is loved by this almighty merciful God. Therefor whether we accept our “inheritance” as a child of God or not we are part of the universe created by God. We are as numerous as the grains of sand on the beach.

This is what I want to share, that we can be unified in our commonness just because of our initial make up. So I want to find ways we can learn to grow together as well as grow individually. I want to share my thoughts and musings about that which brings me life. Things like beauty, wonder, and joy.

Thanks for perusing the words I write and attempt to spark a new understanding of what it means to live in a world populated by so many grains in the universe.

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