I Come Alive In The...Ocean!

Fans of Kim Walker Smith are reading that title like...don't you mean "river"?

Well, sure.  Just not for the purposes of this writing ;)

Our family was blessed with the ability to take a vacation this year.  Just typing that brings feelings of overwhelming gratitude and joy!  Having concentrated time together is such an incredible blessing.  There aren't actual words in existence that could properly describe all the feels.

Even though it started out with my husband wanting to drive...

Just look at his smile.  Compare that to my son's and my "meh" faces and you've summarized the trip down to Virginia Beach.  My beloved is a truck driver, which means he instinctively leaves 58 car lengths between himself and the car in front of him.  He starts off at a snail's pace.  When a light is red ahead, he lets off the gas and coasts with about 1/10 of a mile's distance.

But we're in a 3,000lb car, not a 70,000lb tractor trailer.  So:

Rather than silently screaming and nail picking for nearly 7hrs (shoulda been about 6, but...) I directed my thoughts to the goodness of God for providing the trip, the fun we would have, and...the ocean!

I absolutely *love* playing in the ocean.

Because in the ocean...

• The natural ebb and flow of the current kinda makes me feel oddly balanced on my feet.  
• Everyone is equal, putting forth effort to remain upright - not just me.  
• The chill of the water shuts pain off.
• I feel weightless.  
• I feel indescribable joy.
• I do not care about how I look.
• I do not care if I fall.
• I do not care that I'm wearing the absolute ugliest knock-off brand of crocs you could possibly imagine (worn due to the fact that the raised dots inside somehow help the bottoms of my feet to *not* freak out.)
• I do not care, nor think, about my health, my hair, my weight, my anything.
• I do not care...at all.  

And so, I "run" (my version of running) toward it.  I settle the stabbies in my scalp by running my hands through the top of my hair over and over and over again as I approach the water.  I clomp and stomp, full speed ahead, until I'm in far enough to jump and splash and dive head first into the waves!  I swim and smile and laugh!  If my kids are next to me, I splash them...because I'm kind of a brat like that.  Sometimes, I relax my body and allow the waves to throw me all around.  Other times, the waves do that without my permission.  When my legs and equilibrium decide my shenanigans are quite enough, thanks..I resort to either floating or sitting in the ocean's waters, depending on how close I've been thrown to shore.

No matter, because I feel nothing but joy and love and adoration for God, whose grace is like the very ocean I'm jumping, swimming, splashing, diving, tumbling, and floating in.  It's a place, or maybe a thing, in which nothing really matters - except love.  The love of friends and family sharing the experience with me.  Most of all, the love of God.  

It's overwhelming.

I mean, just look at it.

I come alive in it.  I rest in it.  I allow myself to be completely enveloped by it.

Or maybe that's grace.

Tomato / tomahto...