Well....last weekend, my wife and I took a long weekend to our beach house in Aptos for a delayed 10th anniversary celebration. We had the whole family with us. Leaving the baby at home wasn't an option, and if we're bringing one kid, we might as well bring them all. We had such a great time. This is our third year going to the beach house, and all of us really seem to respond to the relaxed atmosphere, the waves, the sounds, the smells...it is truly our happy place. Most of the days are spent walking on the beach, or relaxing while we watch the ocean, playing games, eating....just good stuff.
On Saturday, we went out for a morning walk and the big kids began their tradition of collecting sea shells. We usually bring along a small bucket and the kids typically will have it overflowing by the time we get back to the house. Well...the collection of sea shells is a small bone of contention for me. You see....in our garage at home, are several buckets...full of sea shells brought from the beach from previous years. So you see, I've become a bit disenchanted with the concept of collecting the shells because NOTHING IS EVER DONE WITH THEM!!!! Ok, ok....I've got it under control. Any how, on this trip, my wife was "trying" to keep the kids collection down to a minimum. She made it very clear that they were to only collect whole shells. Not bits of shells. Only the good ones.
Our oldest daughter had trouble with this. She kept bringing cracked and chipped half shells to the bucket. Pretty much, anything she spotted, she attempted to pass off into the bucket. My wife would say, "NO...not those ones! They're pretty, but they're broken. We don't want those. ONLY THE WHOLE ONES!"
Well that got me thinking about our lives as human beings and how each one of us are broken, flawed, imperfect. Yet God in all of His grace chose to pick us up, dust us off and call us His own. Our worth doesn't come from how great we are...but rather from the fact that we're made in God's image, and that He chose us. Pretty, yet still broken. I'm so thankful that God takes the broken shells too. And that His bucket is never too full.
Cool...take care guys.
Jeramy
4 comments:
For the record... I'd have let her take all the shells she wanted. :-) I was trying to save shells for the rest of the little beach combing girls. Not to mention trying to compromise with my non-shell loving hubby!
Amen Jeramy, Thank God he takes us as we are! I am so glad that your family finds such pleasure in the beach house. What was the surprise???I have been dying to know.
Amen brother. What an amazing God we have!
Jeremy! That is BEAUTIFUL!!! You have a gift for writing, from now on everytime I see a broken shell i'll be reminded of god's love for us. This story touched my heart thank you so much!
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