As a parent, sometimes it’s easy to assume that we are always the teacher and our children are always the students. We were very blessed to be able to take a quick weekend getaway to the beach during Fall break. Over the past 4 years during our annual coastal getaway, the twins have gone from hating the sand, to tolerating it, to this year, loving it. We went crabbing, hunted for seashells, swam in the pool, built sandcastles, dodged wayward jellyfish, and splashed in the ocean. But during that time in addition to the “things” we did, I rediscovered several life-lessons, unintentionally taught by my pint-sized offspring. I call them “Lessons from the Seashore”.
Lesson 1: Beauty is on the inside. As LM (Little Me) and I walked along the beach, she found the most beautiful seashell. “Look mommy, a purple one!” As I turned it over in my hand, the thought occurred to me that on the outside, this shell looked no different from any other – just a normal white shell with ridges. I wouldn’t have chosen this shell over any others to pick up. Just plain. But turn it over, and the most amazing shade of amethyst was ours to
behold; dark purple and most pure. I was reminded of the verse “that while man looks at the outward appearance, the Lord looks at the heart”. I wonder who it is in my life that is just a normal person – nothing special, no different than anyone else on the outside, yet on the inside, they are beautiful mysterious creatures, created by God, waiting for us to discover what makes them so beautiful and unique.
behold; dark purple and most pure. I was reminded of the verse “that while man looks at the outward appearance, the Lord looks at the heart”. I wonder who it is in my life that is just a normal person – nothing special, no different than anyone else on the outside, yet on the inside, they are beautiful mysterious creatures, created by God, waiting for us to discover what makes them so beautiful and unique.
Lesson 2: Things are just things. Several hours and seashells later, we had quite a nice collection, stored in one of our sand pails, and I was quite proud of the “bonding moment” that we’d shared. Somehow in the process of the day, my daughter had decided that among the 87 sand pails we had brought with us, none was suitable to play with except for the one that was housing all of the shells we’d already found. She took the bucket of treasures to the water’s edge, turned it upside down relieving the bucket of all of it’s contents, and promptly started scooping sand into it. Our shells! The purple one! I tried not to let my disappointment show, and just let it go. She was not upset, and had obviously moved on. She hadn’t thought of the shells as a special something, rather, she simply enjoyed the act of looking for them with me. I, on the other hand, was preoccupied with the shell as a keepsake – proof that we had been to that place and done that thing. It reminded me of the verse “Lay up not for yourself treasures on earth, where moth and dust corrupt, but lay up for yourself treasure in heaven”. Perhaps treasure in heaven is not an actual thing, but a nod of approval from God that my time is spent teaching and enjoying my children, rather than looking for things to collect dust.
Lesson 3: Broken can be beautiful! Our beautiful purple shell was lost. As we hunted the beach the next morning looking for “replacement” shells, my daughter would hand me what looked to be the remnants of the bottom of a potato chip bag – broken pieces and chips of varying sizes and thicknesses, including holes and jagged edges. Who saves broken shells? That won’t look very good in a display bowl, now would it? But those were the ones she had picked. As I walked along, and each time she’d hand me a broken piece I would ask her “Why do you like this?” Why that one?” And her answer was always the same. “Because I like it”. No justification. No explanation. Just “because I like it”. While I was busy looking for the perfect shells – the ones nicely formed, or uniquely beautiful, she looked for entirely different qualities. She couldn’t explain why she liked each of them, she just did, unconditionally. Our God is the same way. He doesn’t look for us to be perfect – He loves us even if we’re broken, or were broken in the past. No justification. No explanation. How wonderful!
Lesson 4: Sometimes it’s okay to just “be”. My husband is the perfect match for my son. He knows what Nathan needs, and in some ways I think he recreates his own childhood in planning things for them to do. That particular weekend, the number one agenda was to create a sand fort close to the shoreline where my son could sit and play with the current love of his life: his pirate ships. My husband dug out a concave area at the water’s edge, and built a wall all around. It was big enough for my son to sit, with only one entry point for the water that would fill up with fresh water at each wave’s crest. Nathan sat in that fort for hours, oblivious of all around him, just relaxed.
Watching him the first day we were there gave me a renewed sense of spirit as I vowed to throw caution to the wind and lay all rules aside. Gone was the rule that the windows in the condo had to be closed to prevent the air conditioning from escaping. Instead, I opened them long before dawn to watch and listen to the white crest of the waves crashing against a black sea. I tossed my camera in my pocket in case the kids did something cute, but gone was the intent to get the “perfect picture” for me to feed my scrapbooking obsession. Gone was the to-do list of “must-do’s” like spending every waking minute at the water’s edge – thanks to some persistent jellyfish and multiple rain showers.
They were replaced with several hours in the much-too-cold pool, an impromptu trip to a ferris wheel, and a serious hunt for the perfect pirate ship souvenirs from any of the ten beach stores in that town. But what I learned most that week from my children was just as God’s word says “We should all become like little children” – to not judge a book by its cover, recognize true beauty, love people not things, and let go of the rules once in awhile to truly soak up the life God has blessed us with.
I stumbled across your blog (I found your comment on another blog regarding the Proverbs 31 woman…I agreed with your take on this often “contriversial” woman whom I love and consider my own mentor!)…and I had to comment…
I LOVE your mouse post!! laughed my head off, cause I have been there!! (lived in a yucky apartment full of mice when we first got married!) and I love this “lessons from the shore” post since we LOVE the coast and visit often with our children…I have learned many of these same lessons there and am so blessed to have been reminded by your words!
What a great blog home you have! I look forward to visiting again!