Sea stones

I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE THE OCEAN!

Anyone who knows me well - (actually, anyone who barely knows me, for that matter. haha!)... knows how much I love the ocean! *sigh*

Just the thought of it. Just visualizing it. Just the mentioning of it ~ relaxes me.

It calms, restores and energizes me ~ all at the same time. Make sense?

I'll be writing much about the ocean on here, I'm sure! =)

For now, I want to write about "sea stones".
Those amazingly smooth, varied in colors, varied in sizes, varied in shape ~ sea stones.
They're beautiful! Aren't they?!
I mean, surely I'm not the only one to think so.

I have quite the collection of them. I've been picking them up for years. From many beaches. Each one caught my eye. Each one stood out from the rest around it. Each one seemed to beckon - "LOOK! I'm here just for you! I'm yours! Pick me up - and keep me forever!".

(I love sea shells too, of course. But - sea stones? Mmmm ~ they hold such a solid allure to me.)

Think of it. Nobody made them; only God did. Only God can.
(Naturally - He made everything in nature. <-That's a cool sentence to say, by the way! haha!)
But, the thought of holding a sea stone ... a beautifully unique, the only one exactly like it, sea stone ... is a powerfully awesome thing to me!

To wonder where it's been tumbling in the ocean for thousands of years. To wonder how long it's been on this particular shore. To wonder how many other shores it's rested on - and for how long. To wonder what gentle sea creatures may have brushed against it. To wonder how many storms have battered it smooth ~ by battering it against other stones. To wonder how many stones - affect other stones - in the course of their sea travels.
Yes. These thoughts are powerfully awesome to me, indeed.

When I hold one. Roll it around in my hand. Let my thumb gently sweep over it's face. Study it's wonderful imperfections - that to me - make it wonderfully perfect ...
I think ...
... "Is this how God feels about us?".

... All unique. All standing out - amongst the others around us? All having Him wanting to caress the face of our hearts? Studying how life has marked us? Where our particular shores have lead us? Which storms shaped us a smoother character because we were battered by life, somehow, at a certain time? Knowing gentle things brushed against us, perhaps rested on our lives - as a home - for a time? Life long experiences shaping us into the unique individual we are?

Yes.
I wonder these things.
How our wonderful imperfections ~ when caressed by His touch ~ make us wonderfully perfect ~ when being held by Him.