"Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt'?”
Job 38:8-11
I am no stranger to waves. From age six months on I spent my summers at my grandma’s, in a sleepy little cottage town on Lake Huron. Mornings on the beach were the norm, digging in the sand and playing in the waves as they lapped on shore. As soon as we were old enough we’d hop on our bikes and ride to the dock for swimming lessons. Some days the waves would shoot over the break-wall; we still jumped in.
But I had never seen waves like the waves breaking on the Pacific coast beach this spring. The marine layer had lifted early. The sun was at the perfect angle over the cliffs. Midnight blue surf transitioned in expanding crests to neon aqua, rising, breaking, foaming white, settling in the shallows. Crash, tumble, lap, silence. Wave after glistening wave.
As we stopped to take a picture, I recognized the complexity of such a task. A still photo catches the moment. Perhaps a video, to capture the visible action of the wave from start to finish. But even the video doesn’t give you the entire picture. According to Wayne Presnell, meteorologist with NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration), in Live Science online, the wave action underneath the surface of the water creates the characteristic curl we see.
There I stood, mesmerized, full of wonder, in awe, amazed. How many times have I watched, how many times admired, and not given God the respect due His creative power?
Forgive me, God. I see, in the waves, Your might. You create, and You control. As with the underlying complexity of the waves, there is so much more of You under the surface than I can easily fathom. O God, how great You are!
Nancy P
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