July 31, 2024
As you read this, I will be near the shores of a different ocean.
I enjoy my trips to visit family on the East Coast, but I confess that they bring some disorientation. Even in summer, the water of the Atlantic Ocean on the shores of New England is cooler than that of the Pacific Ocean on the coast of Hawai’i. The roads are more crowded, and frankly they’re a lot longer. People wear different fashions, different colors and shapes, than we do here. Their speech follows different patterns.
In New England, I have to look west to see weather coming. In Hawai’i, I look east. Talk about turning your head around!
Variety, I think, is the way of God’s Creation. The oceans have similar current circles but their waters teem with different life forms in one ocean than in another. The birds of Connecticut are not the same as those of Hawai’i, and neither are the same as those of Louisiana, New Zealand, or the Himalayas. Our volcanoes are fed from the hot liquid rock of the planet, but they do not much resemble the jagged peaks of the Pacific Northwest.
God, in the wisdom of Creation, appears to have said, “Let’s have everything.” And so we do.
As I indulge in a little time with some of that variety, I hope you will consider the different blessings you have received in your life: of people, of growing things, of living creatures, of experiences, of scents, of love. How have they blessed you, helped you grow, given you joy?
God seems to have said, “Let’s have everything.” And so we do.
In peace,
Pastor Eric
Photo of New Haven, Connecticut, by Eric Anderson.