May 5, 2010

• {Some Time Away}

  We went on vacation last week…
  It was absolutely.perfect.
  The best one we’ve ever had! [out of the two "real" ones we've ever taken]

  I looked up the definition of vacation because sometimes a word all by itself doesn’t quite do justice to what you’re wanting to express.
  Looking at the deeper meaning can help shed light on those emotions you can’t put into words.
  But the description wasn’t exactly what I was after. 

  However, one word used did catch my eye… {escape}.
  Yes. that seemed to capture the essence of it more.
  So I looked up what escape meant.
  And I liked it. 
  
  “to get free; get away; get out; break lose, as from a prison; to slip away; disappear; to grow wild, as a plant from a condition of cultivation; a temporary mental release from reality”

  Now that’s what I’m talkin bout!
  

  
  

   
  

  Our time away seemed, for me, to be a much needed spiritual… hmm.. maybe “reflection” is the word I’m looking for.
  Not that I sat around reading my Bible all day. It wasn’t like that.
  But just more about quiet conversations with God that seemed to blend into the methodical noise of the surrounding ocean…
  Time to examine where I am in life. who I am. who God is. what He’s about. and what He’s about to me. and in me. .
  And I realized that every area that surfaced was so completely saturated by an uncharacteristic calm.
  
  I say, “uncharacteristic,” because it is.
  Calm is not a protruding quality in my personality. 
  I get hot headed far too easily. I yell at my kids. I like action and activity. I’m passionate. dramatic. emotional.    
  
  So to discover that the dozen things I could and would normally be flipped out about, I’m not…
  well, I know {so very much so} that’s not me, it’s God.
  It’s something He’s been doing in my heart this past year and months and days and now and still –
  It’s not over. Far from. Probably never will be.
  
  Sure, I’ve had lots of times where I’ve felt God’s peace.. but to say it has ruled my heart? Honestly – not so much. 
  And I want it to be more than a mere experience. I want it to be a lifestyle.
  
  
  
  No. I didn’t exactly have to go to the beach to realize these things…
  but it seemed that space of time away helped solidify and seal and deepen and make sense of some things that needed sorting out still.
  
  A quote came to my mind often as I sat and looked out at the ocean day after day. It was something I had read as a teenager years ago.
  I looked it up in an old devotional book last night because I wanted to get it right. It says:
  
  “There is a part of the sea known as “the cushion of the sea.” It lies beneath the surface that is agitated by storms and churned by the wind. It is so deep that it is a part of the sea that is never stirred.

  When the ocean floor in these deep places is dredged of the remains of plant or animal life, it reveals evidence of having remained completely undisturbed for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Unaffected by all the turbulence that was above it.

  The peace of God is an eternal calm like the “”cushion of the sea.”” It lies so deep in our hearts that no circumstance or difficulty can reach it. We can go within and access that place at any time, and in doing so in the midst of difficult circumstances, we draw those around us into the presence of our God whose everlasting arms are beneath all of our stormy seas in life.”

  
  

  That’s my desire… a heart like the cushion of the sea.

  
  

  
  
  Freedom is something I thought alot about last week too…
  Partly because for the first time in life I genuinely feel it.
  Partly because it’s a popular word to use in our culture.
  Everyone.. Christian and non.. seem to be chasing it.
  And I don’t think it’s about what we often think it is, or try to define it as.
  
  Another “self discovery” sitting on those sandy beaches was realizing that when I am most free.. is when He is ruling my life! 
  
  Psalm 62:1 says, “My soul finds rest in God alone.”

  God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.
  
  
  
  
  ~ some people shots from our time
     
  
  
    
  
   
     
   
  
   
  
  
   
  
            
  
  
  
  
  ~some beach shots from our time
  
  

    

  “The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”

  –Jacques Cousteau

    
  

  
  

  

  “It’s hard for me to put into words why I like the beach so much. Everything about it is renewing for me, almost like therapy…”

  –Amy Dykens

  
  

  
  
  

  

  
  
     
  
  “I mean to lead a simple life, to choose a simple shell I can carry easily – like a hermit crab.”

  –Gift from the Sea
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  “We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”

  –Mother Teresa
   
  
  

  
  
  
  

  “I have always loved the beach. The smell of the salty water, the wind in my face, the gentle roar of the waves all combine to create a sense of peace and calm.”

  –Anonymous

  
  

   
  

  “The waves of the sea help me get back to me.”

  –Jill Davis 

  
  
  
  
  ~what’s your favorite vacation memory? I think it’d be fun to hear…
  
  look forward to catching up on blogs soon.
  
  
  love,
  
  amber.
  
  

  • 1:28 am
  • 49 Comments