13. Find Places That Make You Feel Small To Remind You Of The Bigger Story You're A Part Of
Back in my sophomore year of high school, at summer camp, we each got to do a tile mosaic art piece. The prompt was to do something about our vision or understanding of God. I did a piece depicting a girl standing in the sand at the edge of the ocean. She stood with her feet in the sand and water, and her arms were outstretched. That girl is me. This actually continues to be a way that I experience God.
I am drawn to the ocean. I love walking barefoot in the sand as waves roll in and out. I love the deep rumble of the waves. I love finding treasures that come up on the beach. At the edge of the ocean I am struck by how much I don’t know, how much I can’t comprehend about it. The ocean is both beauty and mystery. It’s life and also death. It’s vast, deep, and wide. It’s known and it’s unknown. Sometimes the ocean sparkles from the sun and sometimes it’s as dark as the night as storms roll over. The ocean is a deep reminder to me of the wonder of God. At the edge of the ocean I think about all the ways we are connected by water. I think about my family in Chile that also travels to the ocean and dip their feet in the Pacific. I think about people I don’t even know, but how we are all connected. It is both connecting and humbling.
I am drawn to mountains. A favorite destination near us is Hurricane Ridge. Not too far out of Seattle, you can drive 17 miles up a mountain and be high up in the Olympic Mountains. Up at the top you can see tall peaks and deep valleys. If you take a little short hike where you can view the other side, you can see the ocean. Often when we go to this site we are either on our way from or to the ocean. It is pretty powerful to have the mountain top view and then the ocean front view. Being up high in those mountains reminds me of the vastness of God and of our world. I think about all the amazing plant life and animals that call this place their home. I think about the harshness of the terrain yet also the beauty. The mountains offer me a perspective I can’t get every day. I think about the eco system and how it is all connected. I think about how the terrain has changed over time and how it is continuing to change. I think about the ancestors who walked this land and who will walk this land after I’m gone. It’s powerful to be so connected to the past and the future and also to just this very moment.
I have realized over the years, that I love being in places that make me feel a bit small. It helps me put my own life into a new perspective. It reminds me that there is a big whole world out there. There’s mystery. There’s vastness. There’s depth. Being in these places shifts my lens and reminds me there’s more to this world than just my story. I don’t mean that my life is less important, but I think it just pulls me out of looking inward all the time and helps me look outside of myself. And yet, in the same moment that I say that, it is also true that when I get to a place that makes me feel small, there is also an important looking inward. Somehow the noise of the every day quiets and I tune into a different frequency.
I chose that stance in my mosaic - the girl at the edge of the ocean with her arms outstretched - to show an openness, a willingness, a surrender, a celebration. That’s how I feel at these places. It’s important for me to go to the places where I feel small. Because there, I feel open to reflection, to learning, to whatever God and this world calls me to. It’s the reminder for me to see myself as part of a larger story and to be tuned in to the frequencies of the heart and of the Divine.
Reflection:
How do you feel when you are at the ocean or the mountains?
Where are places for you that bring you a shift in perspective?
Songs:
Oceans by Hillsong United - I deeply love this song because it speaks to that surrender and to the openness to go where God calls. “Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders.”
Saltwater Gospel by Eli Young Band - I love that this song talks about the depth that I feel when I’m at the waters edge! “As close to God as I can get”.
Click HERE to go to the 40 Things, 40 Years Playlist featuring the songs from each blog post.
