Of Sand, Shells, and Waves
It was a Sunday evening in Madras in Southern India where I grew up. My parents, my brother Sudhan and I were excited about yet another moonlight dinner on the beach with cousins. My aunt and mother had prepared tasty dishes and packed them to be devoured after our sand and water play.
Simple joys could be the title of the book about my childhood. My parents specialized in making the ordinary and mundane into special and wonderful. As a parent and grandmother myself, I think that is such a skill to pass on to our children.
When we reached the Marina beach, Dad parked by the Gandhi statue where we met our cousins amidst squeals of joy. As our mothers picked a good place to spread large thick sheets on the sand, the rest of us, with the fathers, eagerly went to the waters. We loved sharing all the news of the week with each other as cousins as the waves wet our little toes.
My Mum had made a sandcastle complete with a moat around and decorated with shells. When we came back wet and hungry, we tucked into the homemade delicious food in the backdrop of miles of sand. (The Marina beach is the second longest beach in the world).Everybody’s favourite was included in the menu and somehow with cousins around, laughter and in the moonlight, everything tasted so wonderful.
This simple tradition on the beach gave me a sense of belonging, an overdose of love, and gave me a love for the beach.
God called the dry ground ‘land’ and the gathered waters he called ‘seas’. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:10
Fast forward several years, I was at the same beach again, with my sons this time. Mike and Meshak loved their bucket and spade time on the sands. I walked around collecting shells, my mummy heart crying out to God in prayer. Each wave reminded me that God had parted the seas for the Israelites.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all the night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and it turned it into dry land. The waters were divided and the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
Exodus 14:21 & 22
These verses have always fascinated me. The waters of the sea standing up as walls and giving way for people to walk across-sounds impossible right? But not with our God. As the waters stood up as walls, what happened to the fish and the sharks and whales? When they walked on the floor of the sea they must have seen sea weeds , star fish and corals!
So I sat on the sands with my children, I prayed for God to work in my life, our lives, as he did then at the Red Sea. If you are facing a Red Sea situation with problems in front and danger behind, pray and the LORD will part the seas and show you the way to walk. He did it for me! When the LORD parts the seas you know he wants you to walk on in the path he shows you. Are you at a crossroads? Are you praying about a career, your work, a life partner or a relationship? Pray and trust, God will open doors and show the way.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5 and 6
It has been nearly 20 years since then and now I am a grandmother. My husband and I now live in Auckland, New Zealand which boasts of many beaches. As Ranjit and I walk at the Waikowhai beach, we pray for our adult sons living in their homes and the love and grace we all enjoy. We are grateful for our Lord, the God who calms the storms. As the waters strike on the rocks, each one reminds us of these verses.
He stilled the storm to a whisper
The waves of the sea were hushed.
Psalm 107:28
Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves ‘Quiet be still’. Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
Mark 4:39
Where in your life do you need calm? Is it in your home, at work, a relationship issue or is it a medical report? Pray these verses. I have a collection of seashells at home, a daily reminder of all these verses shouting out God’s power to create, guide and protect.
I end with a prayer from the NZ Prayer Book
Christ be within us to keep us
Beside us to guard
Before us to lead
Behind us to protect
Beneath us to support
Above us to bless.