seashore ponderings....

Its amazing how fast life goes by when you stop paying attention. When you're 6, all you can dream about is what you're going to be when you grow up. When you're 10, you've decided that to be a ballerina would be the most magical thing in the world. When you're 13, you've reached the mysterious age of a teenager and you've decided that a ballerina is no where near as mature and practical as being a doctor or a missionary. When you're 16 you dream of what life will be like when you're out of high school. When you're out of high school and settled into college, you no longer have time to even dream. And life just keeps rolling by until you come crashing into summer break and realize, you have more time on your hands than you ever remember knowing what to do with. Eventually you stop dreaming of what you're going to be when you grow up and start worrying what will happen now that you are grown up. What decisions are you going to make? Will they be the right decisions and how will they affect your life? One wrong move, will it destroy everything you've worked so hard to get to? And where exactly are you heading anyway?

Maybe its the salt air drifting from the sea that makes one so thoughtful. Maybe its the gentle pounding of the waves as they drift onto shore. Maybe its the soft calling of the seagulls as they coast above in the clear blue sky. There's something altogether calming and soothing when you stand at the edge of the rocky sand and try to look beyond the horizon. Try to see past the thin blue, hazy line where sea greets sky, colors blending together until its hard to distinguish which belongs above and which belongs below. You can't see beyond the horizon no matter how hard you look. You'll only confuse your eyes with images you think appear that really don't exist.

That's the way life is. You can't look too far ahead, you'll only confuse your soul. You'll confuse your mind and everything in between. You can't plan your life. Life happens, whether you're ready for it or not. Life keeps going whether you want it to or not. And the ones that stand still and try to peer beyond the horizon instead of setting sail and facing whatever lies ahead, will be trapped in that thin line of confusion, unable to decide which direction to head. You eventually find yourself at the crossroads, exactly where you've always dreamed to be, yet never realizing it. That 6 year old, or 10 year old or even that high school student---they're not dreaming of WHAT to be when they grow up. They're dreaming of the moment WHEN they grow up. And I'm not quite sure anyone, in reality, is prepared for that.