Our HUGE God......Our Tiny View Of Him!!

Whenever we take a vacation by the ocean, I tell my hubby many times, "I feel like I'm coming home!" To walk the shores looking for sea shells, smell the crisp ocean breeze and feel the mist roll in with each changing wave to me is invigorating and refreshing. To sit on the dunes and watch in awe as each giant wave rolls in and flows back out again leaving behind foamy sea treasures to me is amazing and never wearisome. I laugh cause every year my faithful companion (my camera) goes along on another trip, another beach walk, capturing yet another wave, it used to be somewhere along the way my sweetheart would mention that I've taken pics of this before, he'd say, why so many?? it's just another wave of the same ocean we've seen before, now he just smiles and lets me have my fun, and usually loves looking through them later. I'm not sure who came up with the quote, " when by the ocean, I feel next to God" but I agree wholeheartedly with them. It's my heart, why I feel like I've come home, like I'm in a place of awe and wonder, surrounded by peace, in His presence.
 I sit entranced watching the the sea oats sway gently in the breeze, taking in the sights around me,  my kids splashing and yelling and then taking a break to build castles, dolphins just out from the shoreline gracefully arching through the waves, ghost crabs, silently and hurriedly scuttling through the sand, sandpipers searching for tiny morsels of lunch and trying their best to nab them before another wave crashes to the shore to wash them away, and again I marvel at the amazing perfectness of it all and the details of the whole masterpiece of an ocean scene.
And then my mind is drawn to a song that has blessed me so many times, How Great Is Our God, and I stop to think about how so many times in life we blithely go about our lives in our own world not even taking the time to really see all the wonders and blessings and miracles that are given to us on a daily basis, and I think how sad our God must be that we keep Him in such a tiny box with a tiny window where we only venture occasionally to peer out of with a quick glance and then once again be on our way. I have to think too how much time and detail that God put into each individual creature , plant, body of water, grain of sand, child, and how each and every thing was fashioned and designed from His heart with love for us to enjoy and explore and I'm in awe again of all He has done for us and given us and the vastness of the miracle of every item and the workings of it, and I'm ashamed once again to realize the many times there is a work of art from His hand and heart at my fingertips that He placed there wanting me to grasp and notice and glorify Him and I walk by, I busily move on, in my own world keeping Him in my tiny box where i so carelessly place Him only peer into that box and out that window when i find it convenient or have nothing I think better to do.

And maybe I've been thinking about this and becoming more aware of this over the last few years more because of some tragedies we've gone through in our life, but it has seriously sunk home that each day is a gift to be unwrapped straight from our Father, to be enjoyed, to be cherished, and that all around us are details of creation that God has put in our path to make us smile, to make us glorify Him and recognize that wow, my God created this for me, and that each moment is a treasure, and that Yes, no matter what we go through, He is GOOD and Amazing and He Loves us with an endless, unboundless, unconditional love if we just let Him outta the box we cram Him and give Him our entire world and sit back and bask in each amazing detail. I guess what got me to really come awake was the details that He has "handed" me personally, one such one was 3 months after our son passed away we took our kids and went with friends to Florida over the New Year. While we were having an wonderful time there was still that huge black cloud of sorrow following us everywhere we went, and one morning we got up ealy to walk a particular beach that was known for sand dollars, and while walking and searching I was crying and thinking how sad it was Devin couldn't be with us and how  much he would have loved being by his beloved beach, and I found myself inwardly screaming for God to please help us be ok, to please comfort me before I fall apart and one of the next steps I took put me beside the most beautiful and perfect sand dollar I ever saw, and peace came with along with the reassurance that God was there right by my side caring, holding my hand and letting me know there was hope. It was the only sand dollar that was found on that trip, I felt I was handed a love letter from my Father.