A quote from Oswald Chambers caught my heart's attention recently. Here it is: "The call of God is like the call of the sea - No one hears it except the person who has the nature of the sea in him." It caught my inner attention and then I realized something. I get it. I really get that.
Once as a very young boy I was in the car with my family as we drove from Iowa to Oregon for a holiday. I remember being able to sleep in one of the back seat floor boards, resting my head on the bump. That's pretty young, right?
I remember we were stopped somewhere and my mom saying, "hush", putting her fingers to her mouth and casting her eyes into the sky. "Do you smell it?" she asked. Young noses lifted and sniffed, searching the air for chocolate and cotton candy, or anything sweet and edible. "Do you smell it?" she asked again. "Smell what?" came a small chorus of grubby, hungry faces. "I can smell the sea", she beamed with joy.
I didn't know much about travel, or the sea but I was aware that there wasn't any sea around. We were in Kansas or Wyoming and a LONG way from the sea. My dad said, "boys, your momma can smell the changes of salt in the air and if a wind carries any of the sea in it, your momma can smell it. She was born by the sea."
Oh, wow, my momma was born by the sea!! "what's the sea, daddy?" "I'll show you, son, when we get there." That's a story for another time, but the thing is, I started to smell it too. Turns out I was born by the sea like my momma. Different coast, but I still got salt water in my lungs.
I heard the sea when I was 12 and again when I was 22. Both times it wasn't the sea, it was the call of God. I think Oswald knew something when he said what he did about the call of God. Do you smell it? It's ever so slight comin' in on a gentle breeze.
Once as a very young boy I was in the car with my family as we drove from Iowa to Oregon for a holiday. I remember being able to sleep in one of the back seat floor boards, resting my head on the bump. That's pretty young, right?
I remember we were stopped somewhere and my mom saying, "hush", putting her fingers to her mouth and casting her eyes into the sky. "Do you smell it?" she asked. Young noses lifted and sniffed, searching the air for chocolate and cotton candy, or anything sweet and edible. "Do you smell it?" she asked again. "Smell what?" came a small chorus of grubby, hungry faces. "I can smell the sea", she beamed with joy.
I didn't know much about travel, or the sea but I was aware that there wasn't any sea around. We were in Kansas or Wyoming and a LONG way from the sea. My dad said, "boys, your momma can smell the changes of salt in the air and if a wind carries any of the sea in it, your momma can smell it. She was born by the sea."
Oh, wow, my momma was born by the sea!! "what's the sea, daddy?" "I'll show you, son, when we get there." That's a story for another time, but the thing is, I started to smell it too. Turns out I was born by the sea like my momma. Different coast, but I still got salt water in my lungs.
I heard the sea when I was 12 and again when I was 22. Both times it wasn't the sea, it was the call of God. I think Oswald knew something when he said what he did about the call of God. Do you smell it? It's ever so slight comin' in on a gentle breeze.
2 comments:
I can very much relate to this on both levels, the call of God and the call of the sea. My husband (born and raised by the sea, now landlocked in Missouri) and I (having lived by the sea for 17 years) always sniff the air for that special smell when we get close to the sea. And who, that hears the call of God, can resist that?!
It is akin to the aroma of our spiritual homeland. It is full of Hope and intense longing, without any sense of disappointment. Thanks for writing.
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