I am humbly grateful for having the privilege of being a part of the WordPress community and for the incredibly kind, talented and amazing human beings who together make up this wonderful blogosphere.
Thank you so very much for ten phenomenal years of discovery, growth, friendships and untold joys. A lot can happen in a decade on a beach…tides shift, precious shells wash up and get swept back out to sea, storms destroy and God heals, and the sun always comes out again.
Welcome, my friend…to my blog and to my world. Let’s sit and ponder things together…growing stronger and wiser from having the courage to take the risk of entertaining thoughts both inside and outside of our comfort zones, to find peace in change, strength in weakness, joy in despair.
As we contemplate, our chairs may shift and settle and get stuck in the sand, but we know that the momentary sense of stability in being grounded in what feels firm and solid, will ultimately give way to that disturbing realization of relinquished control as the water rises seemingly without notice. Then we suddenly find the impetus to pick up our beach chair and move it to a new place to enjoy yet another perspective, building on our previous vantage point. Perhaps a little higher, perhaps a little farther, but either way, we have been moved, forced to change, and to experience a renewed sense of security, even though in the back of our mind we know it will change again with the rhythm of the seashore.
Let this rhythm be our lullaby to cradle us through the sometimes startling, sometimes soothing tides of change.
Come sit a spell, lie back and relax, dig your toes in the warm sand, deeply inhale the sweet sea mist….
David Paul Adams 🎓 & Jonathan William Adams 🎓, Cum Laude One last blast of the pirate ship, Pirate Proud!Jonathan, 18 (Auburn University, aerospace engineering) & David, 21 (Gulf Coast Exceptional Foundation day program)… David & Jonathan: biblical best buds, always looking out for each other.Extended childhood coma, not expected to live past age 4. God always has other plans!One to Alabama, one to Auburn, one to USA and one to Coastal…scattered to the wind but forever bonded.The best part of milestones is sharing it with a growing family!Third milestone – youngest crosses over from 8 years of elementary school (Pre-K-6th), to middle school, having been diagnosed with high-functioning autism last fall and discovering the joys and challenges of his reality…as we all do.
May every 12 year old (and the rest of us) climb 10k feet to play in the snow, descend to the desert going 100 mph in a Mustang convertible, perch on the edge of the Grand Canyon and play in the red rocks of Sedona in the span of 24 hours!
Harry Edenfield, a Christian author, offers a thought-provoking daily devotional for this season of Lent.
Today’s verse is from Genesis 19:16: “But Lot lingered. So the angels seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.”
Edenfield reflects, “Lord God, your servant Lot lingered in Sodom. Sometimes I love my chosen place too much. You urge me to leave my sin spot.
I linger.
I linger even if it may be injurious to my loved ones. Remember me: I, too, need an escort from the magnet of sin.
As we leave together, Holy Spirit, urge me to have no regret about the exit from sin. Urge me not to look back.”
Our good blogging pal and author extraordinaire, Betsy, over at the “Parenting Is Funny” blog, spotted this big bird on the beach in my last post and asked about the great blue heron.
This majestic and graceful bird frequents the shores of most coastal waterways in the United States and, thanks to tourists and generous fishermen, they come to be quite used to humans, guardedly looking for handouts. I’ve yet to have one eat out of my hand, but they will politely stand nearby so as not to intrude.
I was promised some authentic Pennsylvania bologna earlier this year which fell through, but discovered a nearby hole in the wall peninsula deli carried a reasonable facsimile, beach picnic’s on!
(They also carried my favorite smoked gouda cheese, something dear Daddy got me hooked on in the 60s, a delicacy then)
Perhaps it is their long beak which doubles as a handy fishing tool that makes their stare-down a bit edgy. And if you stare back, they look away quickly, as if their mother had taught them it was impolite to stare and beg.
For such a tall and seemingly imposing bird, they weigh only 5-6 pounds on average because their bones are hollow, just like the pelican….both have great wingspans and navigate gusts of coastal wind better than any pilot.
We are blessed to share our beaches here with such magnificent wildlife, which we try to protect at all costs. The motto tourists often see when visiting, is “Leave only your footprints.” The heron leaves impressive footprints on the sand!
Here, a laughing gull was not laughing as the heron beat him to the treats every time. Too slow, Joe! Check out those big piggies…need a big foot sprawl to support those lanky legs and tall stature. I estimated my friend here was about 3.5-4′ tall.
In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill set us all back in myriad ways (understatement). We did what we could to protect the wildlife – this heron was pulled from the oil spill, given a bath in Dawn dish detergent (I once dated the chemical engineer responsible for the invention of Dawn) and lived to tell about it. Er, I mean the heron lived to tell about it – he got all washed off and released. So did the chemical engineer 🙂
Courtesy of The Guardian
Thank You, God, for all things great and small – You, Lord God, made them all! Thank You for all the creatures You made to keep our earth in balance, that we may live in harmony with Your great creation.
~In memoriam of Elizabeth, former member of the Audubon Society, on this All Saints Day~
Play nice. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from the Southern Sea Muse is strictly prohibited, and all that jazz. Be not thou a stinkleheimer.
Erm, what road are we on?
Reaching for Heaven
No stopping it!
Even the little signs
Southern Sea Muse 
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