sheer beauty

Today we rose early, put on bikinis instead of clothes, and loaded up a Jeep until it was exploding with towels, chairs, a tent, sleeping bags, clothes, bottles of sunscreen, an umbrella, and a cooler packed with watermelon, grapes, iced green tea, and all the makings of the essential s’more. Christy, Hermien, Becca, and I drove down to Galveston beach to spend some time on the shore and camp out at the state park. And here we are.

As I sit here on the beach I cannot help but marvel at the sheer beauty that surrounds me. If you know Galveston, you know that the sand I dig my toes in is a far stretch from white and the water stretched out before me is, well, brown. Tonight, though, it doesn’t distract me from the radiance for even a second. On both sides of me, for miles and infinite miles, I see nothing but beach. Behind, the sun subtly, and yet gloriously, recedes into its nightly slumber. Although tucked behind a giant, golden tipped cloud, her humble extravagance cannot be hidden. Her soft, shining rays reach their golden arms from beneath cloudy covers, pointing upward. Pointing me upward. I find it so difficult to fathom a God that made all of this.

Laid out before me in the sparkle of twilight is the Gulf of Mexico. The sky is that soft, bright blue of a baby’s eyes, the clouds an airbrushed whisper. The waves crash endlessly before me, finishing in that fine, delicate foam. What is a wave anyway? So strong and mighty, but coming from where? And then with a single crash each one is gone forever, just another paint stroke on that sandy shore. What is all this beauty? Ungraspable, incomprehensible.

By my side are my three beautiful friends: taking pictures, writing in their own journals, giggling. These really are some beautiful girls I am surrounded by. Inside and out, they shine. Christy, my very best friend, is your all-American girl. She’s an apple pie if a girl ever was one. With a laugh you cannot help but laugh along with, a sweetness that tenderizes every heart she encounters, and the most genuine of spirit that makes me realize more of how we are meant to live. I love her. If Christy is an apple pie, then Hermien is a cool slice of key lime pie. She’s a breath of fresh air that causes you to look at things a little differently. Emotional and passionate to her core, Hermien will always be the first to start the fun, as well as the first to draw the minds of her company to God. She is whimsical, and I will never know another like her. My third girl, so dear to my heart, is Becca. Becca is my perfect, frothy and cinnamon-y cappuccino. She is a dreamer, but also an activist. She loves to talk- for hours and hours, on anything and everything, but her ears are always open to listen, her arms always open to embrace. She has so much depth, so much heart. Becca inspires me.

They are all so different, so complex, yet we come together and find this common ground called friendship and just bask in it together. I don’t know what to do with beauty like this. I can’t grasp it, can’t measure it, can’t explain it, and can’t hoard it. I cannot control when these moments come and when they pass, all I can do is simply be here in it. So I want to fully be.

Today was perfect, but I think beauty like this is everywhere. I'm just so busy going back and forth, doing this and doing that, that I don't take the time to notice the glory in the mundane. Galveston is beautiful. Our friendships are deeply spiritual. I think God wants my heart to be softened and my mind slowed down so that I can see all the glory in life that He has placed in each moment of each day. Sheer beauty.

“The stars were created to dazzle us, like a lover letter, light itself is just a metaphor, something that exists outside of time…something to be experienced but not understood, just like God…. It’s all metaphor, and the story is about us; it’s about all of us who God made, and God Himself, just enjoying each other…. I think life is spirituality.” –Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller