While sitting at the ocean’s edge many thoughts ran through my head. But mostly the question—what is the mystical message being said by the sea?

Covering over one third the planet’s surface, the Pacific Ocean rocks and rolls in its bed. The Creator set up the seas, so beautiful—and in perpetual motion. Awesome, reverent nourishing, steadfast, persistent. These are all adjectives one might use in describing God.

The seas. Signs of His love. Without these planned entities of provision, we could not live. Glorious sights to see . . . symbols of the arms of God, wherein one does not run without due respect and preparation.

Wonder-filled moments were spent watching the surge and draw of ocean’s song. A message that would sweep to greater depths in this person’s soul … as time was given to listening. Sitting for days, toes nudging deep in warm, wet sand, gradually words surfaced to interpret emotions the sea stirred.

As usual, questions come. Why is the ocean salty? Turning to the “knowledge of the ages”—good old encyclopedia: “Rocks of the earth’s crust, disintegrated by weathering, released their salt to streams, to rivers and eventually enter the seas.”  Sands, saturated with the sacred, both wonderful and electrifying at the same time.

Here, my feet are planted in trillions of specks of mineral and rock which have been whisked slowly from all parts of the world. I thought of my own minuteness.

Here today, “as the grass of the fields,” scripture describes mankind. But tomorrow, wilted and gone with the sun’s heat. There on the seashore the meaning of these words reach the center of my soul. I am but a tiny speck in an incomprehensible universe, which is itself a tiny speck in a vast sea of galaxies. Hardly noticeable when viewed in the scope of it all. Yet of such value Jesus Christ, God’s own Son, came to planet earth to die for the likes of me, and of you—redeeming us back to where we belong . . . in the heart of the Father.

It seems incredible to personalize that monumental act of sacrifice and love on the part of Almighty God. Yet, the only way it can have meaning is if it is brought home to personal souls. Then having entered into the dance of acceptance, by saying “Yes” to who God has called us to be, we embrace the unspeakable privilege of receiving “the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

It is through Him that we are truly“something.” Yes, by laying down our need to “be something” we are empowered with the truth of who we really are. Such awareness brings freedom. Freedom to truly step onto the turf of being shaped and formed by the Holy Spirit of God. It takes humility to rest in that.

Growing into our potentials as sons and daughters of the Most High God happens because of our decision to invite Him in. In this, we become indwelled by Him, tiny replicas of His love on earth. What once were mere specks of human substance become living stones “built up in a spiritual house, a holy priesthood.” Here, in the now, we become” spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ,” (1 Peter 2:5).

Pregnant with hope and faith we become agents of love . . . vessels of clay filled with holy treasure. No longer caught up in self-seeking ventures hoping for peace—grasping for happiness. Rather, to be merged with His redemptive act of sacrifice, united with all saints throughout the earth. For all believers from times passed to time present are as the sands of the sea, myriad in number and saturated with the sacred.

A salty, holy people of God, who “partake of the abundance of the seas and of treasures hidden in the sands,” (Deuteronomy 33:19).