Last week at the library book store, an unusual blue book popped up. A trivia book for shell lovers by Peter Dance. The bold title, OUT OF MY SHELL, made me laugh. It seemed like another angel hint on expansiveness. Sometimes we outgrow our current shell and must expand to create a larger one.
But even more synchronicity came a few days later.
On Friday morning, before leaving St. Augustine to return home, an angel nudged, Go down to the sea and find a memento of your trip.
I doubted I'd find much, many beach-combers had already sifted through the sands outside our hotel. But the nudge was so insistent, down to the sea we went. The hard-packed sand showed little promise. Although several pools of tiny shells glistened like jewels on the damp sand. They were mostly broken or as tiny as a finger nail. But then I saw the gift. A white angel wing shell, among a flattened mound of tiny jeweled shells. A keeper!
Then, a little further down the wide expansive beach, I found another treasure. A flat sea-rock, sprinkled with golden flecks of shells the tide had delivered. A pirate's delight, the rock shimmered like gold dust among shiny pink, purple, and white shells. I'd yet to find a sea rock like this one at the beach. A conglomerate of little rocks, all shapes and sizes, embedded in the large wet gray stone to add strength. Each little stone a stone of remembrance. We all have them if we reflect on our past and recall the way God delivered us and made us grow stronger in our spirit.
Happy with the gifts from the sea, Elliot and I plopped down on a sand dune to inhale the salty sea air, and expand our lungs. White and gray seagulls stood in a row by the shoreline. A flock of large brown pelicans sailed by on the morning breeze. The soothing rush of the sea, the silky white caps rolling in, and our faces touched by the warm rays of the sun were healing balms. And, like two contented sea turtles, we hunkered down in a moment's repose on the sandy shore of time.
So many gifts of nature to be treasured as a new day begins. And, then it was about to rain and time to go home.
Have a wonderful weekend with your angels and the Holy Spirit. Remember you are never alone. God loves you, and the best is yet to be.
Love and peace,
Rae Karen
