Yesterday I didn’t have anything special or urgent on my to-do list. So I decided to go to the beach for a mini-retreat.  Haven’t done one for ages, and I knew that it was high time for one. I read, wrote, meditated and prayed. So much easier to do there – or out in the bush.  I had decided earlier in the month that I would have a special “word” for this year. And the word is: joy.  As in the C.S. Lewis’ quote “Joy is the serious business of heaven”. 

I’m purposefully looking for the instances and the incidences that create joy. Or provoke joy. Or promote joy. And they’re everywhere.  Scattered profusely. Abundantly. Randomly. Often unexpectedly. Wherever I look or tread.

I went for a long swim and a longer walk along the beach. 

It was a wonderful day for noticing the quiet, small things all around me.  Footprints of the seagulls printed in the white sand.  The crystal clear water on the edges of the quietly lapping ocean. It gradually deepened to blue-green and then darkening to deep cobalt blue, spreading on and on to the wide horizon. 

A dolphin only 2 or 3 metres from the shore slowly and smoothly humping up and down.  A  couple of children squealed with excitement and delight when they saw the dolphin, and raced along the beach, splashing in the shallows as they tried to keep up with it. 

The sunlight spearing through the clear shallow water made zig-zagging patterns of light chasing each other over the sandy bottom.  I found a couple of little purple starfish being tossed around in the swirl of the shallow water as I walked along the beach. 

I picked one up and watched it slowly “walk” across my palm with its tiny sucker feet. Such amazing and weird intricacies to wonder at. I tossed them back into the deeper water.  I also found a dead starfish and I’ve brought it back home to try to preserve. Preserving a starfish is a “first” for me!  But I wanted to keep it as a reminder of a special day today.

A day overflowing with joyful, thoughtful moments. A day to treasure and be truly grateful.