“Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu,
and the seventy elders of Israel went up
and saw the God of Israel.
Under his feet was something like a pavement
made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky.
But God did not raise his hand against
these leaders of the Israelites;
they saw God, and they ate and drank.”
Exodus 24:9-11
One week ago today, we returned to real life after a week on St. Thomas. This often overlooked biblical reference to being in the presence of God spoke to me today, reminding me of the ‘bright blue’ ‘something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli’ experiences of this week away. A little exploration yielded these other quotes more specifically tied to the ocean and its healing, renewing qualities.
May you each find a way to meet God this weekend, dear friends. Looking for a bright blue pavement beneath God’s feet might be a way to begin.
“Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think.”
– Robert Henri
– Robert Henri
“When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused.”
– Rainer Maria Rilke
– Rainer Maria Rilke
“The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach–waiting for a gift from the sea.”
– Anne Morrow Lindbergh
“Total physical and mental inertia are highly agreeable, much more so than we allow ourselves to imagine.
A beach not only permits such inertia but enforces it, thus neatly eliminating all problems of guilt.
It is now the only place in our overly active world that does.”
– John Kenneth Galbraith
“I could never stay long enough on the shore; the tang of the untainted, fresh, and free sea air was like
a cool, quieting thought.”
– Helen Keller
– Helen Keller
“The waves of the sea help me get back to me.”
– Jill Davis
– Jill Davis
Joining with my sweet, smart, kind friends Sandy and Deidra today.
And I cannot for the life of me get Deidra’s button to transfer to the new blogger format!
I copy and paste to no avail. I even tried typing the HTML code by hand – nada. RATS.
Here’s the URL for Deidra’s fine site, to which I cannot subscribe, either.
Time to take a class in computer code?
http://www.deidrariggs.com/
I love the beach. When I was younger, I would always have some sort of major revelation each year I went there. now that I’m older, I realize that I don’t need the beach to have a deep communion with God. However, all the same, I strongly feel His presence there and I miss it when I am not close to it. Today, looking at your pictures, I will place them in my mind, and breathe in deeply of His scent.
You do that, Jen. Pictures help me to ‘be’ there, at least in my mind. And that’s often where I most need it.
Thank you so much for this dear Diana. I find my heart longing for the sea every year at this time. There is something so powerful, so infinite, so reflective of Him about it.
These quotes are gifts.
How soothing and inspiring…I am a lover of Rainer Maria Rilke and his quote above is new to me…thank you for all the beauty here! Coming over from Still Saturday today.
Nice to see you here, Michelle. I’m a Rilke fan, too – and I’d never seen this one before, either.
So many beautiful blue things … including my husband’s eyes.
I’m beach-hearted . Love the blue, lovely delightful blue, and am looking forward to the forever blueness of eternity through our King of Kings.
My parents met in Chile and bough lapis lazuli to turn into their rings (by a Jewish Hungarian jeweler living in Mexico). I think they chose lapis because it reminded them of the beach by the ocean where they first kissed. About a week before my mom died, she gave me her ring.
Wow, Megan. Thanks for sharing that lovely story. They met in Chile? How wild is that? Someday, you’ll have to write a little about that. And I’m so glad she gave you her ring.
Hmm. In the list of “post settings” that you see on the right when you look at a post open for editing in Blogger, expand options and make sure that “interpret typed HTML” is selected.
Okay. Off comes the Ms. Fixit hat! Sorry about that.
Diana, what a lovely, lovely post. I’ve taken the ocean for granted, I realize, being fortunate enough to live near it most of my life.
It’s never good to take things for granted. I needed this. Thank you.
I’ll try it, Sheila. Blogger has been very finicky about capturing buttons from certain places – especially Ann Voskamp and now Sandy. I got Deidra’s without a problem – but a lot of the time, it isn’t working at well.
You’re having trouble with mine? 🙁
Love the gifts that come from the sea–especially the Caribbean. And these quotes–oh my. I can never get enough of Anne, and I never heard that one of Jill’s before.