TEXT AND PHOTOS BY EDDIE GARCIA
There’s something to be said about the calming expanse of the ocean...
One of the ways I like to think about it, is like a baptism. When I got dunked as an adult, I let all the garbage flow out of my mind & heart into the tide, and I came up afresh.
Now, when I visit the seashore –even if I don’t go into the water– I try to take a few minutes to leave behind the garbage that accumulates daily, to be washed away with the tide, at that great expanse.
Another metaphor for the disposing of our burdens could be “Leaving it at the cross,” or whatever else works for you. I’ve done both, and I’ve done others, too. Some may say that the cross is not a place to leave your trash, –I mean no offense– but I’ve learned that God has a way of turning it into treasure, if we just bring it to Him and trust Him with it.
I’m sure there are many other ways to wash the soul, but the ocean shore just happens to be my favorite. Whatever it is, God will meet you there...
Through the trials and in the darkness, He is there, like when I’m angry on the road and choose to put all those things I want to do to that other driver that's making me crazy, in the bag of my disdain; or the things I wish on the people who work for corporations that monopolize our meek finances. He is there during those feelings of hopelessness when bad things that are beyond our control happen to our loved ones; or when the ugly character in me surfaces every time things don’t go my way, or when societal and self-appointed failures trigger my self-hatred. It's all garbage. And when my bag is full of it, it overflows onto the people that are closest to me...
So I’ve learned to “take out the trash,” every once in a while, to wash my soul of all its accumulated garbage. It’s just my way of taking a shower on the inside, I guess.
So whenever you see a photo I post of the sun rising over the ocean, as beautiful as it may be, let it be a reminder to do something with your trash.
Come to think of it, I’m well overdue for a “soul shower”... 😁
