I am sitting on the beach in Ocean City waiting for the sun to rise. It is a beautiful morning and the light is just starting to peak over the top of the clouds. My husband and I always plan to spend one morning getting up before dawn and making our way to watch the sun come up over the Atlantic Ocean.
The sounds of the waves and the fewer people are big bonuses but I also love how it represents how small we are in the this world. And how big our God is in His creation. The ocean stretches out in front of me with nothing on the horizon but that soft blue that the sky takes on before a sunrise.
It was a little darker than usual but I was enthralled by the moment and how this particular sunrise was the only one I would see on our weekend trip. My husband and I work a lot. I have two jobs (one full and one part time) that I love and he is constantly coming up with projects surrounding his work and others he simply enjoys. When I say we work a lot, I mean we work about 60 hours each week. This is our choice for this time in our lives but that made this moment on the beach even more important.
Just the two of us, watching the seagulls, listening to the waves crash on the shore and knowing that this time was sacred. A woman had been about 10 feet away from us for the entire time until her children ran in front of us and she ran after them. My husband had gone down to the water so she slowed in front of me and said hello.
What she said next was so sad to me that it took me awhile to recover. She looked out at the beautiful ocean I was enjoying and said, "Looks like it won't be a good one today because it is way too hazy."
I simply said, "They are all beautiful in their own way." She continued towards her children and I thought about the how my words may have taken away someone's blessing in the past and I didn't even realize it. That was the only sunrise I was going to watch over the ocean for 2023 and I started to look at the haze and the clouds that were now a brilliant pink negatively. I didn't have other sunrises to compare it to so I was thoroughly enjoying this one until...
I recovered slowly and cherished every moment of our time there and the little peak of the sun coming up over the horizon. But I learned a very vital lesson. My words could change the way someone looks at the blessing they receive from God. He was the one who had chosen the sunrise that morning and created each piece. It was stunning and I was blessed to be there, before and after she said that. I just had to pull myself back out of her statement and recover the blessing.
You see, she did not know that bright pink sunrises and sunsets remind me of my grandmother. I remember watching sunsets with her and she would comment on how beautiful the pink shades were. I also remember her wearing pink and how beautiful she looked in that color. So now, when I see a sunrise or sunset that is a brilliant pink, I remember that moment and go back to the love that I shared with my grandmother many years ago.
I don't blame her for stealing that moment. I was able to regroup and still remember the love and cherish the moment. But I do thank her for teaching me that my words can change someone's perspective on their blessing. And making me a tad bit more careful with how or why I say what I am thinking.
