We're all baby sea turtles

Today was an off day for me. My heart was heavy with a lot of things, and I honestly didn't know what to do about it. I had band practice with Tim at five, and I wasn't really looking forward to it because of everything I was thinking about. Soon enough the time to head over to Tim's approached and I made my way over there. En route to practice, for whatever reason, I had the urge to go to the beach and just spend some real alone time with God. So as soon as practice ended, I went straight to one of my favorite beach spots with my bible, notebook, and blanket.

At first I didn't really know what to do, or what to read, so I just sat and watched the sunset. I observed birds flying and then suddenly diving into the water in hopes of catching dinner. Then God laid Psalm 139 on my heart. For some reason I've just been continuing to come back to that Psalm. So I opened my notebook and started writing it in my own words.

When it got dark, I called Gretchen and we had a good conversation. She told me about her day and how she was in the middle of steam-cleaning her carpets and I told her about my day and that I was sitting on the beach. I love calling her. I know she'll always answer whether I'm crying, laughing, or calling just because I want to say hey.

Afterwards, I started singing some songs to my Savior and then talking to Him aloud. Then I remembered my experience watching baby sea turtles hatch and then head towards the ocean to start living their lives. When baby sea turtles hatch, they will go towards the brightest light, assuming it's the moon, to find their way to the ocean. Because of the light from a lot of hotels, they sometimes get turned around and start going the other direction. If they continue that way, they will eventually die, and that is why volunteers are there when they hatch to turn them around when they go the wrong way.

In a lot of ways, we're like baby sea turtles and Jesus is our Moon. When we are brought into this world, we're all looking for the Light, however some are misguided by other lights and that eventually leads them to death. But if we follow the True Light, it is there we will find Life. Sometimes along the way we can get turned around, and it's then when we need to repent from our old ways and turn to God.

After talking this over with God, I continued to pray and thank Him for all He'd shown me while I was out there with Him. I just thanked Him for whispering in my ear that I needed to hang out with Him on the beach and if I hadn't listened, I would've never heard Him speak. It was then, as I was taking in the vastness of the night sky, that I saw the most amazingly brilliant and bright shooting star I had ever seen. Immediately, tears of joy ran down my face and I was laughing; I could not have smiled any bigger.

I wish I could put into words that would accurately describe everything that happened today, but I can't. I tried, but the truth is, you guys won't ever know how this day was for me, but that's okay. It was for me and God, but I just wanted to share a piece of it with you.

peace, love, and baby sea turtles.

kay lee rick hardy