Yesterday the girls and I had a wonderful walk along the beach in Kitsilano. One daughter had a weekend sleepover with her older sister who lives just a couple of blocks from the beach, so the rest of us ventured down to the beach twice over the weekend. It has been unexpectedly warm and sunny and there is nothing that I like more than walking by the sea.
Walking by the sea after a stormy winter often brings surprising and delightful treasures beachside. One year while walking along the beach in Tofino in March we came across a most beautiful large Japanese glass float of transparent bubbly green. We were offered hundreds of dollars for our find as we walked back up to our car. It was an amazing treasure from afar, rarely found these days. Today it has a special place on our patio and has given us years of wonderful memories of that time. Yesterday we found a great assortment of treasures too. Colourful bottle glass, worn smooth by the sand and waves, round stones that fit comfortably and soothingly in our hands, and shells of all sorts.
As I walked I was reminded that similarly after stormy winter times in our lives there are also unexpected treasures uncovered. Sometimes these treasures are not obvious. Their full meaning and reason for being may take time to be appreciated and uncovered. As a family we are moving out of a wintery time of storms. I am on the lookout for those surprising treasures of insight and love emerging from the sand banks built up by the waves. I am not sure yet what those interesting pieces of wood and rock sticking up from the sand may eventually reveal. Nevertheless, I am eager and ready for those new insights and even sometimes for those very special finds. May my eyes be open to be surprised and to discover new things that are washed up on the beach of my soul. So many of the most special discoveries in life are not those that we specifically aim for, but those that are uncovered or get washed up on the beaches of our lives as "Gifts from the Sea!" (Anne Morrow Lindbergh)
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