Seashells

Have you guys ever walked on the beach and picked up seashells? The best time to look for shells is early in the morning and after a storm. Do you know why? All those rough waves from the storms bring in lots and lots of shells. Man I’ll bet there were zillions of shells after that hurricane last weekend!

My friend, Peggy, loves to walk on the beach and look for shells. Lots of times she and a friend go walking on the beach just to look for shells. Peggy goes in one direction and her friend goes in the other. Usually Peggy has picked up LOTS of shells, but the other lady usually has just 2 or 3 shells. When they meet back together they compare shells, and the other lady can’t believe Peggy’s picked up so many shells! When she looks at Peggy’s shells, she exclaims, “They’re all broken” and she laughs at Peggy. My friend Peggy tells her “No, they’re pretty; see this one has a beautiful peach color in it that turns to pink. And this one has a pretty edge, except for that one broken part on the side. And this one changes colors in the sunshine. And this sand dollar still has the little dove inside it; and you couldn’t see the dove if the shell wasn’t broken! This starfish is almost perfect, except for that one tiny arm broken off at the. But Peggy doesn’t look at the broken part. Peggy’s friend laughs at her again; You see, Peggy’s friend only picks up perfect shells—she throws the broken ones back into the ocean; or just doesn’t bother to pick them up at all.

When Peggy was telling me this story, I wondered what Jesus would do if He went walking on the beach looking for shells. Would He just pick up the PERFECT SHELLS; or would He be like my friend Peggy, and see something beautiful in each shell, even if it was broken.

I remember the stories from Sunday School when I was a little girl… about how Jesus stopped what he was doing to help broken people…. The blind man he healed or the man who couldn’t walk or the man who had sores on his body; Yep, Jesus stops to pick up broken people;

I’m SO GLAD Jesus is not like Peggy’s friend; because she’d never even stop to give me a chance. She’d walk right on by most of us because we sure don’t look perfect. Jesus is like Miss Peggy, He sees something beautiful in each of us, and He knows just where He can use us. And He especially likes the broken ones, cause we’ve been stepped on and thrown back so many times, we’re just happy He could see something pretty in us.

Let’s Pray: Lord, We know God made us all, and even though we aren’t perfect, there’s something beautiful in each of us that You can see; Teach us to have eyes like Jesus; Eyes that look beyond the broken parts to find something in everybody that is beautiful. Slow us down so that we take the time to look, stop, and pick up the beautiful people and shells scattered in our path, like you and Peggy do.