Clear as Mud and Other Gummer-Uppers

Sometimes you just need to go to the beach.

My husband and I went again this year; a habit now of many years and many trips to the froth and foam of the ocean.

However, we have yet to simply wake up one day and say, “Let’s get in the car and head for the ocean!” Not that we don’t want to. It’s that other responsibilities and commitments (like showing up for work) hinder that kind of spontaneity. And it takes nearly eight hours to get there. Another minor detail.

So what do we do while charting our course?

We get out our calendar, plan a trip to the ocean, and wait for it – knowing there are going to be days between now and then when we are faced with things that are clear as mud and other gummer-uppers. As the ‘get out of Dodge’ date eventually looms nearer on the calendar, we need some fresh ocean breezes whistling Dixie through our ears.

We humans, made of the dust of the earth, can get muddy – in thought and speech, in attitude and motivation, in decision-making and action; simply, in the dailyness of charting the course.

Even when it feels like dullness warmed over, or it’s particularly hair-raising, transition is occurring.

Kind of like the ocean…always in transition while still there waiting to share its benefits. There are plenty, but I’ll share here a handful and invite yours as well in the comment section below.

Benefit One – I’ve already hinted at a few, including the ocean breezes that typically blow. On the Pacific coast, I’ve had my hairdo rearranged more ways than I can count. But oh, it feels good to let down and begin to relax.

While the wind is messing with our hair, something else often takes place. That same wind has a way of blowing the cobwebs out of the grey matter between our ears. It’s kind of like a Spring (or Autumn) cleaning for oneself. When the soul gets tired, so does the brain. And vice versa. There’s nothing quite like God’s brisk broom of an ocean breeze to sweep out and settle in.

Benefit Two – Then there’s that ‘clear as mud’ condition. Who does not know the dilemma of wrestling with something: thinking about it from every conceivable angle until it is thoroughly complicated; or on the other end of the plank, stuck in a single viewpoint like a pirate with ‘me one good eye.’

This is when the constant motion of the ocean becomes your best friend.

When you’re walking down the beach leaving your footprints in the sand, the tide does not give two cents (or a treasure chest full of gold) what muddy condition consumes you. It just rolls in with whiteness, then retreats. Rolls in with whiteness, then retreats. Repeated constantly, it does what it has been given to do – for you – in that instance. All the while, it remains true to its nature and rhythm while we listen, recall and recalibrate our own.

It resembles what our heavenly Father does for us and effects in us, does it not?

Benefit Three – As for ‘other gummer-uppers’, they are as plentiful as a seagull on a beached crab.

Gummer-uppers are the ‘sticky residue’ that sometimes clings in dealing with other folks and circumstances that are not easily resolved or that fall in the ‘clear as mud’ category. If we are not careful, gummer-uppers will more and more hinder our forward progress – like a full pack of chewed-up gum stuck to the bottom of our shoes.

Situations and relationships are fraught with them at times. You know what some of those gummer-uppers are in your own life. As footprints in the sand don’t remain, gummer-uppers don’t have to either.

That walk on the beach can become a sacred time to release those things that are gumming up the works. Yielding and forgiving prayers are tried and true removers of that which has us all clogged up. Yielding softens the glue that threatens to set our mind in stone. Forgiving what needs to be forgiven brings the fullness of the ocean’s activity to our very heart. It washes away; it smoothes; it flows love in and ebbs out peace.

***

I realize that we don’t always have an ocean or seaside beach within abbreviated distance. If you do, count yourself blessed! If not, I encourage and if necessary, challenge you, to find an ocean / beach equivalent. A place where you can schedule time to get away to clear the mud and other gummer-uppers that are congesting the course you are charting.

Or, pick up a conch shell and give me a call. The Wind is known to whistle through our office, too ~

Benefit Four – Now it’s your turn! Like a walk on the beach between friends, you’re warmly invited to share your seashells of grace and clarity – those times the ocean or a beach stroll has helped to bring a crystalline perspective to what was clear as mud and other gummer-uppers.

~ Nancy

photo credit: my footprints in the sand via photopin (license)

Title Photo: personal photo with PicMonkey enhancements