On Sabbath…at the beach…

Ben and I sat on the beach, his head resting on my arm, as we watched the kids playing in the sand. Parker was collecting rocks and the girls were baking pretend cupcakes.

It was quiet and peaceful at our little beach camp, the sun glistening off the rolling waves as I dug my feet down deep into the warm sand. We love being at the beach, this little family of mine, and when we started to talk about the reasons why, I couldn’t help but think of the sermon we heard a few months ago about the Sabbath.

We learned that taking a Sabbath was less about the day of the week, and more about choosing the attitude you brought to a time and place. It was about there being “no place to go and no place to be” and reconnecting with God in a deliberate way.

“I think being at the beach is Sabbath for us,” I said, the words feeling so familiar and true.

When we go to the beach, each step towards the waterline takes us away from our busy lives. Cell phones usually don’t have a signal, we keep clocks tucked away inside cars or deep inside ziploc bags, and we have usually decided to camp out for at least a few hours. We have no place to go except out to float in the water and no place to be except digging deep holes in the sand for a castle moat. There are no reasons to tell the kids “later”, and I find myself living in the present, in the now, as I rummage for colorful rocks in the surf and rummage for snacks in our cooler bag.

And I never stop marveling at God’s creation and thanking Him for giving us such a beautiful place to spend summer afternoons. It takes my breath away to think of the countless pockets of beauty that exist in every corner of the world…spectacular waterfalls, grassy plains, majestic mountains, and white sand beaches not only on the shores of the ocean, but on the edges of Lake Michigan less than an hour from our house.

Sabbath is about taking the time to step back from the grind to remember and recharge. That is what the beach does for us. We always leave tired and a little sunburned, but also a bit more relaxed and thankful for what we have.

A couple of hours later, we trudged up the hill back to our car to head home. Clouds of baby powder puffed into the air, as we “de-sanded” the tired (and a little cranky) kids and we both reached for our phones to download the mail we had missed. But as we drove away, back into our everyday lives, the grains of sand between my toes reminded me that Sabbath doesn’t have to be complicated or difficult. It doesn’t have to look a certain way or be a cookie cutter version of someone else.

For us, it is as simple as a summer afternoon at the beach…