For the past two years we have taken the girls of our youth group on a girl’s retreat. One of our youth families has graciously offered a family beach house for us to use. It is located in Holden Beach which is close to South Carolina (Will be important later). We always arrive late Friday night and basically have all day Saturday before we need to head back to Raleigh.
On Saturday morning a couple of us decided to get up and go for a walk on the beach. We came up over the dunes and onto the beach just as the sun was starting to come up. It was just after high tide so there was not much beach to walk down. When we got onto the beach I noticed that there was a black seaweed looking substance that had washed up on the beach and was lining it as far as the eye could see. We started our walk. As we walked down the beach I kept looking at this substance that was lining the beach. Someone asked if it was seaweed and I said, “No, I think its ash.” “Ash!” they said, “From what?” I reached down and crunched some it between my fingers, watching as the charcoal substance rubbed against my fingers turning them black. “Yep, its ash” I said, “Its from the wild fires in Myrtle Beach.” “Wow that is crazy,” she said. “Probably something you will never see again, unless you go to Hawaii” I said.
We just stood there, on the fringe between the rows of burnt ashes lining the beach and the ocean waves. The waves would come in and move the line of ash forward and back but all the time leaving that thick layer of burnt houses, trees, plants, grass, clothes, furniture, photo albums, memories, etc. For me it was a surreal experience as I stood there staring at people’s dreams and belongings beneath my toes.
It really made me think about what those people were going through and how often we take for granted the roof over our heads, the picture albums that we never look through, the projects and gifts that our children have made for us. I said a prayer for those families on that beach. Looking back I wish I had taken a jar full of that ash and brought it back with me so that I could put it on my desk as a reminder to not take for granted the things I own and the people that I love!
