These days, I encounter God in nature primarily through walks. I may get back to biking someday, but I have never been a runner. Perhaps you too find your brain running through all your current concerns as you take a walk or exercise. At times, my brain only slows down near the end of a walk, and only then am I attentive to my surroundings. Other times, I am still ruminating about life when I return home.
Walking, running, or moving in some way improves health in and of itself. If you can do so outside and in a lovely environment, you are blessed. Of all the ways I enjoy encountering the natural world and God, my favorite environment is the beach and the ocean. And I am not even Gen Z!
Vacation at the Ocean and Snow Days Are Happy Memories from Childhood
When I was younger, in August every summer, we drove from Maryland to Florida to stay with my grandparents. The beach was a three-minute ride. My least favorite aspect of our beach trips was applying sunscreen prior to going into the water. Given that my mother has had skin cancers removed from her face, I now thank her for the sunscreen!
We usually had a raft or two to use for surfing the mild waves. The water was nice and cool and my dad, a former Navy captain, loved the beach ever since he went to Jones Beach as a kid. He liked to play what he called “girl overboard.” He made sounds of wind and rocked the raft to convey that we were in the stormy Atlantic until he tipped me off and announced, “girl overboard!” He then quickly rescued me and returned me to the ship as we continued our ocean journey.
My mother used to play what she called “over and under.” When the waves were a bit bigger and approaching, I would have to decide whether we should ride up over the wave or dive under it. I played this with my own daughter, and she liked it too.
Most of the time, I played with my younger brother, who might occasionally steal the raft and ride it back to the sand without me. Most of the time, however, we collaborated to get the raft out to the sand bar and then rode it in together.
The Ocean and God
I now live on the West Coast and so my more recent memories are of the Pacific Ocean rather than the Atlantic. A healthy respect for the Pacific is appropriate because it is rougher around the edges, let us say. I have friends whose loved ones have died trying to rescue children. Lifeguards stations usually determine how far out in the ocean I will go. One of the best swimming experiences I ever had was in Santa Monica, just before the lifeguards closed the beach because the waves were too high.
The Washington coast is not my favorite section of Pacific beaches, and it is not safe for swimming in many places, but visiting it still cleanses my lungs and allows me to watch the waves roll in. I stayed for several days in a retreat house next to Point Reyes National Park, CA, and visited Limantour Beach several times. I was able to take my shoes off and walk on the edge of the surf.
Sun, surf, and sand filled my consciousness. I thought about the ocean in a new way. God is infinite, just like the Pacific Ocean is deep and wide. As a human being, I can only walk along the edges of the ocean and know God in a small way relative to God’s greatness. God gifts me with small insights into God’s nature, like the water lapping against my feet. I am grateful for the sense of peace that being near the ocean brings.
I find the ocean soothing, but I know that it can be rough and terrifying. We hear more about God’s frustration with his people in the Old Testament. I think that while looking at the world today in the United States, however, God would resemble a rough sea with green waves and foam, with clouds, thunder, and lightning, carrying several big logs into shore.
Listening to God’s Revelation
I have had profound experiences in the natural world. Snow is another way I experience God. Western Washington is not a terribly snowy place, but each year we receive at least one good snow. God cleans our slate when we sin and repent. Snow reminds me of God’s mercy because it covers all the ugliness that exists and makes everything beautiful. I like to walk at night and watch the snow fall through the light of the street lamps. I also enjoy looking up at the sky and seeing the snow come down upon me. Our area is more likely to experience “wintry mix,” a term that covers sleet, freezing rain, and a combination of those types of things and I don’t find wintry mix very inspiring.
How Does God Invite You?
In a prayer class I took in graduate school, the professors gave us a prayer exercise for a week which was just to look at the natural world, not to think about it or devise great theology, but simply to look. While attention to the natural world around us can be difficult, it so often reminds me of God’s love.
I always enjoyed the ocean and snow. Both were a refuge from school and work, a time to relax and breathe. These blessings from nature later offered insights into God’s greatness and generosity. Revelation comes to me in digestible pieces, but there is more than an ocean’s worth of greatness in God. I sin and God forgives me, just like the snow covers the earth and transforms the winter drabness into a winter wonderland.
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