One early morning whilst on vacation off the Eastern coast walking on the beach, I pondered the task of counting the number of grains of sand laying before me. A self evident, impossible task. I first considered the tide rushing in as it washed anew several feet of sand with each swell of water every few minutes, realigning the countless grains into a smooth, flat surface. How would it be possible to get an accurate count from this constantly changing movement? Moreover, how could I possibly enumerate those grains trapped many feet underwater? This would be an monumental task. I would also have to consider the endless grains confined to the beach area. The task was quickly overwhelmed in absurdity as I thought of the thousands of miles of coastlines…around the world…imagining myself bent over picking up each grain…one by one…day after day. Perhaps in several hundred lifetimes one could get a good start. Of course I would be omitting those grains captured by feet, shoes, towels and other unaccounted for beach accessories. Perhaps I could take a cubic sample of sand to achieve some sort of estimate with fancy mathematics, but then who really cares about estimates. Any sane person would quickly reason this to be an impossible task. Then I thought, God certainly knows because He created everything, thus it’s an infinitely huge number known only to Him. And that makes Him even more stunningly amazing, don’t you agree?
Relax now.
There’s nothing like the soothing, therapeutic sights, smells, and sounds of the ocean. Whisks of air surrounding you, the aforementioned sand between your toes, the hovering seagulls scavenging for food, the various seashells scattered about. So I’ll just be content with that. There are some things in life I’ll never get an answer to until I am at home with Him. I imagine that I won’t even care at that point for creation will be quite inconsequential while standing in the presence of the Creator.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
Psalm 139:18
Jim
Great, Jim - now I want to go put my feet in the sands of an coastal beach. If I go east, I blow away in the hurricane. If I go west, I will probably get arrested for being a conservative. Lol. If I stay in Kansas, well, I might loose my dog Toto to a tornado. However, if I stick my feet in the warm sands of God's thoughts, all of a sudden, I want to stay right where I am at.