I can still see her running away from me. Nothing but a cloud of sand following behind her as she charges forward. Her sheer joy is obvious as she streaks along the shoreline, pulling muscles drawing tight against bones, stretching for the distance. Boxers have a lot of unbridled energy.
Relieved I see her slowing down. Being caught up in the rapture of running she has journeyed farther than she thought, or perhaps even had no thought at all which would most likely be closer to the truth.
I watch her as she runs over to strangers seeking something familiar, wreaking havoc on beach blankets of unknown scents. She is searching, at times even looking panicked. Suddenly she stops and stands still and silent in the distance. How my heart races that she sees me, that she hears me calling out to her.
She turns and faces a familiar sound, though slight and quiet there is some familiarity in it. A remembrance of being loved, protected and cared for. Oh, how she charges back in my direction joyously, ecstatic and very slobbery.
I can't help but reflect how many times in my life I do the same thing? Exuberantly running off in my own direction, plowing ahead with no thought of checking in with the captain of my life, the one who holds my life, protects my life and gives me life.
I can find myself lost among the unfamiliar looking for help where help doesn't live. It's that moment when I stop and stand shocked still that I have the ear to hear the sound of His voice, the call to remember whose I am.
Then, I too, turn and run back ecstatically, joyously and hopefully not slobbery, into His presence. I am received into His loving arms, His easy yoke and am overcome with that same giddy reassurance that I am kept, I am held, I am loved and protected by the very one who gives me life. My Father, my Friend, my Master, Jesus.
"Be still and know that I am God".
Psalm 46:10
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