Beach Moon

As soon as we came to the top of the hill, our breath was drawn from our mouths in one united gasp. The full moon shining down on the lake was absolutely glorious! We had come to the beach to lie in the sand and pray under the stars, but the glistening lake under the beach moon reflected the fullness of God’s love and easily overshadowed any stars that might have shown past the moon’s light.

How could our hearts not sing for joy to a God who loves us so much that he just had to share this part of his beautiful world with us? And it’s strange how we all respond so differently to God’s love. I longed to sit in silence with an open heart to receive God’s love, but Paul wanted to walk in his presence along the shoreline to take in as much of God’s beauty as he possibly could. And our children had an altogether different idea of prayer. Their prayer burst forth from their overflowing hearts, and they could not resist shouting, laughing and playing in the sand and water.

Each of us, in our own way, offered our prayers of thanksgiving to God for the gift of this beautiful night under the full beach moon. Later, as we drifted off to sleep, we held that memory of the beach moon in our hearts and knew that God continued to smile at us from beyond the moon, the stars and the lake, and from within our very selves, just as He always has and always will.