Today was national escape day. My first thought when I saw this was that if I had known earlier and it wasn’t a Sunday, I would have gone to the ocean. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a great love for the ocean. It wasn’t until I was there trying to find an escape and scrape my life back into some sort of recognizable blob that I realized why. There is a healing power and relief that is found in the ocean. It provides a calm, stillness without the lonely silence. The ebb and flow of the tide is constantly changing, but strangely constant. The beauty and wonder of it all seems to seep into your soul until you are filled with such gratitude that everything else seems to fade in importance.
My favorite part though, was standing in the waves. I could pour my heart out, and even shed a few tears. The ocean would listen and wash up to me to gather my tears and fears, then take them out to sea only to return again and replace them with peace and comfort. Life makes sense at the ocean, because it brings you back to the basics. It reminds you to breathe, to feel, and to flow. It is a physical reminder that I have a powerful Savior who is more powerful than my weaknesses, my fears, and my sorrow. That He is in every detail of my life, and He gives me the strength to stand when on my own I could only crawl. So in a way, the ocean is my therapist. He reminds me that I don’t need to escape, I just need to remember.
