“Jesus said, ‘Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear?” Mark 8:18 NRSV

For me, one of the best things about living in the East is our close proximity to North Carolina’s beautiful beaches. My heart hurts for those who say that they have never seen the ocean.

There are few things I love more than sitting in a beach chair under an umbrella in the summertime. I love the whole sensory experience of it: the sheer sight of the vastness of the ocean; the fresh smell of the salt air; the rhythmic sound of the waves breaking ashore; the way the cool sand feels on my bare feet, and the way the sea breeze feels on my skin; the refreshing taste of a cold drink and a pack of Nabs.

However, I believe that my love for the beach comes from another place. It comes from a deeper, higher place. It comes from a place that transcends the physical senses. It comes from a miraculously mysterious place. It is hard to explain, but to put it in simple “preacher” words: the beach can be a downright spiritual experience. I believe we have the ability to see the ocean with something other than our eyes.

The beach can reveal the truth that all of life is a mysterious and abundant gift of an amazing grace, impossible to earn and in no way deserved. It reveals a love that is unconditional, unreserved and very large.

Consequently, as I sit in the beach chair, breathing in the gracious enormity of it all, understanding that all of it is pure grace, my heart begins to fill with immense gratitude. Then, a moment of clarity comes. As a recipient of this grace, if I am truly grateful for it, if I truly believe it is all unearned and undeserved, if I truly believe it is grace, then I will instinctively live to lovingly share grace with all people, unreservedly, abundantly, and amazingly. I will give as I have been given.

And if I do not share grace with others? Or if I am reserved or stingy with it?

Then, although I have been to the beach countless times, maybe I have never truly seen the ocean.