still waters

I’ve always been a beach girl. I sometimes think I can blame it on my parents who took us to the beach yearly for family vacations. Although blame seems like a word I would give to something with a negative connotation. And there’s nothing negative about my love and passion for the ocean. For palm trees. For sand. For the rush of the waves trickling up the shore to my feet.

I’ve thought maybe it’s the nostalgia of it. Or the fact I get to leave “the real world” behind when I’m there. Or maybe it’s just tradition. Habit. What my souls knows.

But as I’ve left visit after visit from time by the ocean, I’ve had a newfound spiritual awakening about my why. Why I long for it. Why my souls thirsts and craves for it.

It’s where I tangibly can meet my Creator and experience his awe-inspiring stillness.

Still waters.

They are words that can wipe the stress, anxious thoughts and worries in an instant. But what I crave is the soul stillness. The one I find when I’m sitting beside the still waters.

What God has shown me is that while He knows my heart and my desires and longing for the shore. He made me in His image and to come alive in the midst his Creation. To be in awe of His works. I can’t always be by the actual, tangible still waters.

But He gives them to me when I seek Him and promises soul refreshment and restoration. In my daily life. In each moment I have breath, His offer is there.

When I retreat to the couch in the darkness of early morning before everyone in the house is awake with my coffee and bible.

When I stop and breathe His name, Jesus, in the midst of a busy mind fighting not to let the enemy steal the moment away.

When I watch my kids run in the open air soaking up sunshine their little bodies have craved all winter.

In the firm, loving embrace of my husband when he hears my woes from the day.

On my front porch. Where crickets chirp and the the warm pallet of the night sky meets the blue of the day’s sky.

Still waters. There, in those moments. He takes my hand and leads me there. In the middle of the ordinary.

He longs to guide and restore us to our still waters where we can meet Him. This beach girl’s soul’s desire isn’t a plane ride away. Or a planned vacation awaiting. It’s in my midst.

What are your still waters?