Last fall I was at a Quaker conference on the sea. The surroundings were beautiful and the teachings were incredible, they opened me up to new truths and new paths for my life. It is a weekend I will not forget for to use one of my favorite terms, it "set the path before my feet".
On the Saturday morning of the conference, my feet wanted to find the path to the ocean so I convinced the woman I was roomming with to walk across the bridge with me for a pre-dawn beach walk beside the sea. When we arrived, it was still dark and foggy. We could hear the waves crashing on the shore and felt the cool sand underneath our feet. It was a holy place, so pure and quiet, it wrapped me in God's presence. We walked along the shore while the sky slowly lighted to grey, talking about our lives, who we both knew, and our faith journies up to that point.
Walking beside the sea has always been a holy time for me when I tangibly feel the presence of God. With the waves lapping at my feet, all labels and pretexts are washed away and it is as if I am walking in the place where earth and heaven come together to embrace each other, where the Divine and the sould can commune. Beside the sea, I have sang, cried, prayed, written, and dreamed with God. For this blog, I want it to be like when I walk the sea. I want it to have that sense of where God and our souls can come together, honest, struggling with growth, and joy-filled. There is lots to see on the beach, a lot of depth to the ocean and I am aching to explore both.
Take off your shoes and come with me.Labels: Beach, conference, introduction