Finding the divine

This month has been the best of both worlds. A week in WV with JPD,SLD and OM youth working on a house that needed repairs also had the added benefit of taking me back to the Appalachian Mountains I grew up in. I get so homesick for the Allegheny mountains of PA and the ranges become even more stunning to the south. Now I am in my other favorite place- the Eastern Shore. my mom grew up in MD and my dad in southeastern PA, and I spent at least a week every summer in Ocean City, MD. As a college student I spent a lot of time there with a fellow student and friend, and as a young woman and beyond, I have explored the shores, eventually falling in love with the residential and slower pace of DE. We found a great apartment last year and re-rented it this year, for two whole weeks. I may never be able to afford such a luxury again, so I plan to enjoy every second. Rochester does nothing for me in terms of climate or geography, though i love the people, so this is a special treat Today has been amazing. Friends from my hometown who moved to the DC area last year happened to be in town and spent the day with us. We saw dolphins and pelicans and swam and sunned and ate well. Now there's a thunderstorm rolling in - and I love stormy weather. It'll blow over by morning, and we'll enjoy another gorgeous day. As a lover of the outdoors who is nourished by the earth and it's offerings, and an adherent of process theology, I am ecstatic to have this time in places that I feel are so filled with the divine. I have had people comment on my ability to move through recent life's challenges with grace, and I have come to realize that grace is available to all of us - it is unearned and unexpected. And for me, I have never felt alone. The sense I have of God is always with me. it is strong here. Coming to the sea is a ritual of renewal for me that started before I ever carried children in the ocean of my own uterus. I love being in the womb of the ocean, of being healed by the briny waves, of being carried by the swells and warmed by the hot sun. It is a place that demands respect because the ocean can kill, it's denizens bite,a nd the sun is fierce, but it's also a place of birth, of the moon, of tides, of the rhythm of life. The rain is coming down, the thunder rolls, and I am complete.