"Be still and know that I am God"

As I sat on that seat looking at the sea yesterday, my thoughts just followed their own paths, I wasn`t consciously thinking of anything. No list of things to be done, no thoughts of what to do next, my mind wasn`t busy whirrling round with the hundred and one things it normally is, but instead it was just content to just "be".

Some things came to my mind, from somewhere deep inside me, things I`d not thought of for months, years. Somehow sitting looking at the sea, is one place that I really feel I can relate to the bible verse "Be still and know that I am God". (Psalm 46:10).

Looking at the vastness of the sea, always seems to put any problems I may have into perspective. It is so huge, so immense, yet although it may at times be rough and at others calm, it is always there. And it`s a strong reminder to me that God is like that too, always there.

Come for a stroll

Come for a stroll with me through the beautiful gardens full of azaleas and rhododendrons which I spent a pleasant Sunday afternoon admiring.... and photographing.


Along grassy paths.......

.... round ponds and streams......





I think this one has to be my favourite, for the way it was standing up so straight and tall.


From a distance they just looked like a mass of colour, but stopping to take time to stand and look closely at the blooms, I discovered that they weren`t all a single colour, (if you click on them you`ll see clearer what I mean) there were tints and shades and markings, all going to make each one an individual. ......
.........Guess that`s a bit like people too - when we take time to get to know them

Shells

As I walked along the beach the other day, found myself resorting to a childhood pastime - picking up and collecting shells




But, I did more than just pick them up, I began looking closely at them, and feeling their texture. Some, like this delicately shaded pink one, were so smooth to the touch whilst others, like this collection of them, had a ridged feel, and a crinkly edge.

And, what struck me even more, was the fact that they were all different. No two were alike.

A bit futher along the sand, I came across these larger shells. At first I thought they were pebbles, but they caught my eye because they were almost glittering as the sunlight caught them. I picked one up and studied it. It was quite thick and heavy and you could almost see the age of it, but the layers of the shell.

And, it set me thinking - how like the shells we are - all different, all with our own characteristics, yet all part of the community and the world.


How many grains of sand were there on that beach? Far too many to even begin to count, and a verse of one of my favourite hymns came to me

We thank thee Lord, for sunshine, dew and rain,
Broadcast from heaven by think almighty hand
Source of all life, unnumbered as the sand,
bird, beast and fish, herb, fruit and golden grain.