God's Good & Perfect Gifts

  

While at the beach a couple weeks ago,  I took a walk with my daughter, searching tide pools.  Found them.  And hermit crabs, tiny fish..even a real live jellyfish!  Usually we just see them dead and washed-up on shore, but this one was just billowing about in the tide pool, floating, drifting...peaceful in a dangerous way.  nice.  No predators.  who would dare?

Also- dead stuff.  Cool ocean plants, little "trees" from the deep.  Washed-up, still beautiful.  

And then-  WOW!  A 2-foot long octopus leg!  I think I found its ink-squirter, too, this little blobby thing on the end, like a thick bubble, that kept squirting out seawater when I squeezed it.  (yes, I handled a rotten dead octopus leg. I'll think of that next time I cook up some calamari to go in my pasta sauce.)

oh,  AND THEN... I found the most wonderful thing EV. ER.

Was wandering through a deeper tide pool, when I saw it-  

First just the crown, of a conch shell.  "Just the top half, right.." I immediately assumed, as I've found dozens of these conch shell pieces before, lots of times...  

Then I kept digging.  It was halfway buried in the wet sand at the pool's bottom.

I kept digging and OMG - a Real, WHOLE CONCH SHELL!!!

I have never EVER found a whole conch shell before!!! (well, not outside the Caribbean, anyway, I did find a couple in the Dominican Republic years ago)   and this one is GORGEOUS!!!

Sure, you see them all the time, in touristy beach shops, yard sales, or collecting dust on livingroom shelves.  

I know that.  It's not the value of the object, it's the Delight of Surprise!!!

I don't mean to get overly sappy over a shell here, but I felt like this was a God-moment for me.

Finding this shell felt like a huge gift from God.  He surprised me through nature, handing me something so rare & beautiful, and 

JUST FOR ME!!!!  Finding one at a store is not a big deal, some person already "found" it for you.  But to "find" this rare treasure, something that symbolizes something you love so much- the ocean- really feels like a kiss from Jesus.  He really DOES love me,

and He really DOES have good and PERFECT gifts for me!!!   Why do I find that so hard to believe in my life?  Have I become so calloused by a few bumps & bruises that I don't even LOOK for His gifts anymore?  Have I given up digging a little deeper to find the true treasures He has hidden away, for a time, but longs for only me to find??? 

WOW.  I picked up the shell and held it to my ear.  Yup, the song of the ocean came to me Loud & Clear.

The crash of the waves.  The never-ending surge of the tide.  

I will take this home with me.  And keep it close to my heart.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you.

:)