This week I am so happy to have my two kids at the beach. It has been awhile since all four of us have been together. With Taylor and Bailey living in different states for school and work, with competing schedules and unknown plans, with our own careers and my doctorate - these days are incredibly rare and incredibly special.
We usually only stay about 5 days on a beach holiday, but this time I booked a whole week. I'm trying to just soak in the time. We all need a time to rest and reset. A lot has happened so far in 2024.
Maybe you aren't a beach person, or maybe this just isn't your year to head to the ocean for any variety of reasons. Maybe summer is your busiest work season. Everyone has their own summer story - their own life story. But all of us need time to allow the world to reclaim us. To sit in silence. To read a book - or two - or ten. To listen to what God has for us. To nap. To take deep breaths. To drink coffee. To loosen our responsibilities - if for even a few minutes.
I don't claim to know what your life is like right now - you too may be soaking up the sun on your favorite stretch of sand, or you may be reading this as part of a mass of morning emails at your desk chair. But I'll invite you that wherever you are right now, you take that big deep breath. Close your eyes and allow your body to settle down. You may not have a week right now - but you can make even one minute feel like a beach day, a quick reset, a prayer, a gift. Offer up some gratitude for whatever is before you. Bring whatever you are holding in your hands and your heart. As Anne Lamott so famously said, "Here are the two best prayers I know: 'Help me, help me, help me' and 'Thank you, thank you, thank you."
For me, I know the days of all four of us (or just the four of us) on vacation are a lot more limited than they used to be. I don't take that for granted. I hope this summer, whatever your "beach days," or even your "beach minutes," that you won't either.
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