The sand there consisted of two types: a darker sand that formed a mostly solid background, and a lighter sand of shell fragments that floated on top of the darker sand. As each gentle wave pulled the lighter sand across the darker background, a pattern would form for about a second before disappearing as the wave receded. The patterns often featured finger-like lines of the lighter shell sand spreading out across the darker sand. Each one was different, and it was endlessly beautiful.
Every beach has its own beauty in the waves, the sand, the rocks…but I had never seen anything quite like this before. It was always beautiful and always changing: just as the wave painted its picture with the sand, it erased it again. Because this particular beauty was literally flowing in front of me, I felt connected to the flow of life. I was present to the moment and not worrying about anything else. May we all find such moments, and be willing to become absorbed in the simple beauty around us and before us.
I collected a bit of water from this and a few other places of natural beauty on my trip: water which I will add to the congregation’s sacred water at our Water Ingathering ceremony on September 5. I invite you to bring your water on that day and your experiences of being in, on, and with the water this summer.
PRAYER
O Spirit of Life and Love, where does beauty come from? How can it be created by the water and the waves, by the sunset and the growing things? I am awed by beauty. I am overjoyed by beauty.
May the beauty of natural creation bless each human being. May all of us know the beauty of rain, of wind, of sun; of earth and flower and rock. May this beauty bring us peace and a sense of connection with the mystery of the universe around us.
Aho.
Amen.
Rev. Andrew Frantz
August 12, 202