Island Reflections - 1

Island Reflections - 1

Monday June 20, 2022

 

We could see it, even from the distance.

Nothing was too much, too hard, too heavy for this man - this father.

We saw it when the family arrived at the beach, the parents struggling to push their daughter in her wheelchair through the sand.

We saw it as they brought her salt water from the shore, allowing her to feel it on her face and in her hands. 

We saw it when the father scooped her up into his strong arms, carried her knee-deep into the ocean, and gently lowered her over and over again into the waves. 

Her loud “guffaws” told us everything: she was loving every moment of this adventure! 

She could enjoy the water almost engulfing her, because she was safe and secure in her father’s powerful hold. She might not be able to enjoy without some help what so many others can enjoy on their own - swimming freely in the ocean - but her father spared no effort or pains so that she might enjoy what she could in his loving embrace. 

As I watched them from the shoreline, the girl going down into the water and coming up again, over and over, and as I heard her roars of laughter and his happy chuckles… tears rolled down my face: what a beautifully precious scene to witness!

And more so, because I realized that, in ways, that girl is me - and that father is my Heavenly Father.

Me: crippled, handicapped, disabled, paralyzed in so many places - but even so, oh-so-loved by my Father in heaven, for Whom I am never too much or too hard or too heavy, Who holds me firmly and tightly to His heart and lowers me time and again into the waters of His eternal love and grace, while His and my shouts of joy and delight echo through the universe. 

 

"The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing."

~Zephaniah 3:17

 

Spratt Bight Beach - San Andrés Island, Colombia

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