Daily Wisdom 07-02-2003 Oceans Away

< July, 2003 >

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

Oceans Away

I can hardly believe I spent the first 13 years of my life without seeing an ocean.Of course, I know there are probably billions of people (think inland China) who have never seen an ocean. So, now, living about four hours away from the Atlantic as an adult is a gift to be savored. And the ocean is a place to be visited as often as possible.

In my office is a non-descript, rather poor (gray cloudy day) photo of my daughters enjoying the Atlantic. But I still like it because the girls are horsing around and have their arms spread out wide for the picture as if to say, "Come on in, Mom, the water's fine." I need the ocean like some people need skiing or running or chocolate. When we drive to the ocean, we cross bridges over inlets and bays, and even if the day is hot, the only thing to do is roll down the window to sniff the salt water, hear the gulls circling overhead, and feel the brilliant sunshine (on a good day).

There is something so elemental about the ocean. Author Anne Morrow Lindberg writes about the primeval rhythms of the seashore-about listening to the constant roar of waves and looking out as far as the eye can see to the horizon, and almost imagining that one can see the curvature of the earth along the horizon.

Anne Morrow was the wife of the famous flier Charles Lindbergh; her famous and beloved book, Gift from the Sea, was initially published in 1955. She writes about how at first when you get to the beach, you are so tired and wiped out by all the hurry and whir of just getting there that you only have energy to plop yourself down in a beach chair or flat on the sand, and just lie there and vegetate. And that is okay. You may go with great intentions of reading this or that book or catching up on writing notes or even writing in your journal, but at first it is important to just totally unwind, relax, let it all go.

This is assuming you aren't chasing after little kids and carting a ton of their paraphernalia to the beach. But even then, there comes a moment, after sunscreen and last minute trips to the bathroom in wet swimsuits have been taken care of, when the kids get wrapped up in building a sand castle or going for a walk with Dad or another relative, and you have a chance to just rest, absorb, and let go.

After your "busyness" has ebbed away, the ocean is able to fill you back up again with joy, with energy, with new or calmer insights for your busy life back home. Lindbergh writes (slightly paraphrased), "Is this what happens to woman? She wants perpetually to spill herself away. All her instinct as a woman-nourisher of children, husband, society-demands that she give. Her time, her energy, her creativeness drain out... Eternally, woman spills herself away in driblets to the thirsty, seldom being allowed the time, the quiet, the peace, to let the pitcher fill up to the brim" (p. 45, Gift from the Sea, Vintage Books, New York, 1975).

Lindbergh talks about how women need time alone and apart to be re-energized for the constant giving that is drawn out of them, and adds that the church has also functioned as that quiet centering time for many women. "No wonder woman has been the mainstay of the church. Here were the advantages of the room of her own, the time alone, the quiet, the peace, all rolled into one and sanctioned by the approval of both family and community. ... And in that hour ...the springs were refilled" (Lindbergh, p. 54). So if you are lacking proximity to an ocean, get thee to a lake, stream, creek, or anywhere there is a body of water. Maybe a bathtub. Even just a roadside puddle. Peer down deep into the water. Look at fish or crawdads or watch dragonflies. Study the tadpoles or moss and just get lost in wherever your thoughts take you. You don't have to wait for a trip to an ocean to experience God's great and good gift of water, and how it is made to replenish us not only when we are physically thirsty for water, but when our souls are thirsty too.

Contributed by Melodie Davis from her weekly columnANOTHER WAY (http://www.thirdway.com/aw/).For information on using Another Way in a local newspaper, contact:ANOTHER WAY, 1251 Virginia Ave., Harrisonburg, VA 22801-2497; or call1-800-999-3534; fax at 540-434-5556; or email me at:Melodie@mennomedia.org