Many people head off to the beach when the temperature soars and the ocean seems to beckon, inviting us to cool off and relax.
The beach has much more to offer us than social interaction between sunbaking bodies, competing sandcastle construction companies and the pervading smell of coconut oil, cooking on reddened skin.
Let the beach call you when it is raining and everyone else has disappeared to the comfort of their lounge rooms and TV screens.
Let the rain beat on your face, refresh your skin and clear your mind of all those life’s little worries we carry around with us.
Let the beach call you before the sun rises, when the sky is heralding a new day. When the overnight tide has washed the human evidence of yesterday’s activities from the sand, and the crabs are busy rebuilding their homes.
In this sublime setting, let us seek the courage to learn from yesterday’s mistakes, so we can have the hope and strength to face what today has to bring.
Let the serenity of the beach, the never-ending movement of the sea and the majesty of creation all around us be a reminder of the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu’s saying, ”Great indeed is the sublimity of the Creative, to which all beings owe their beginning and which permeates all heaven”.
I’m Peter mack and that’s faith.