Reflections in the Pacific Northwest Coastal Region.
As I was walking on the beach today in Hansville, Washington, the whole shoreline was smothered in seaweed. It was stinky, and not very pretty. Walking on it was a bit slippery making it difficult to stay on course.
Every step felt uncertain, the ground soft and a bit treacherous beneath me. I had to slow down, watch each footfall, focus just to keep my balance.
Here and there, patches of clean sand peeked through. But mostly, the shoreline was a covered in green chaos. I nearly turned back.
Then I looked closer. Scattered among the seaweed were sand dollars, whole, unbroken, and pristine. Hundreds of them, waiting in plain sight, unnoticed at first because the green seaweed blanket was all I could see.
It’s kind of like life.
It isn’t always clean or beautiful. Sometimes it stinks. Sometimes it’s hard just to stay upright. There are stretches where every step feels like a fight to keep your footing. But that doesn’t mean you’re off course, it means you’re walking through the part that holds the treasures.
We often want the path to be clear before we begin. But it’s in the chaos, the discomfort, the slow and deliberate moving forward, where the real gifts are found.
We don’t find the treasures by avoiding the ugly parts of life. The beautiful things are there. Not beyond the struggle, but within it. – Patti Jewel
Just Keep Walking. Step with Love. Always forward.
