Treasures in the Sand

By: Amanda Renée Bishop

 A beach vacation to many would seem like a prize. To a small child with red hair and freckles named Maggie, it wasn’t about the beach rental, blue skies, or palm trees. Rather, the real prize was the quality time spent with her father. As the sky grew dark and bedtime loomed on that first night of their beach excursion, her father made a promise to Maggie that in the early morning light they would search together for treasures. Lulled to sleep by the soft sound of the waves and the smell of salt water, the little redhead girl slept soundly. 

As the early morning dawned, dad awoke. Stiff and sore, his muscles burned as he stretched to put on his shoes and sweater. Heading to his little girl’s room, he opened the door and spoke softly, “Sweetheart, it’s morning, time to go search for treasures.”

The little girl with red hair, now tangled in curly knots from sleeping, jumped up and started for the door as fast as she could. “Wait just a moment, I know you are excited, but those slippers just won’t do.”

With shoes changed, dad and daughter headed toward the sand. The sky was still partially dark with hints of red and blue painting the sky. The tiny sliver of sun glistened as it hit the water. “Wow, look at all the treasure daddy!“ The little redhead yelped with excitement as she picked up her first shell. Dad and daughter combed the area, marveling at all the treasure that nature had brought that morning. 

Shells, of all different shapes and sizes, now filled the little redheads bucket. Brown, pink, red, white, blue, and black, each one beautiful in its own form. After an hour’s time and a large swath covered, the morning’s offerings had mostly been scoured. The ocean continued on with its routine, up and back the waves crashed. Maggie didn’t want any shell to be left behind, so she began picking up fragments, pieces of shells that had once been whole. 

“Maggie, what have you got there? We don’t need to take home bits of shells when you have a bucket full of whole ones.”

“But what will happen to these shells, what if no one picks them?”

The little girl with blue eyes and red hair looked up to meet the eyes of her father, a tear threatening to depart her left eye.

“Maggie, everything will be ok, this is all part of God’s plan. These pieces of shell, with the help of the waves and shore, will eventually become sand just like we are standing on.” 

As Dad picked up some sand and ran it through his calloused hands, his daughter imitated him, “You mean this shell will someday be soft like this sand?” Maggie ran another fist of sand through her hand.

“Yes, it will become soft sand, just like this. You know what? Someday another little girl just like you might get to enjoy the sand that comes from that shell.”

“I bet she’ll make a sand castle with it, daddy.”

“You might be right, Maggie.”

With bright eyes and a smile to her dad, Maggie placed the shell bits carefully back onto the beach. “Have fun becoming sand,” she said before picking up her bucket, now content with her finds.

Maggie and her father made their way slowly back towards the rental where her mom was preparing breakfast. “Daddy, God sure is smart, even though those sea shells have been broken and hurt, God is going to make them into something great.”

“Maggie, you’re right… and you know what? God does that with humans also. We might have broken parts in our life; whether from loss, bad choices or other people’s bad choices. Yet, if we give those broken pieces up to God, he can help us turn broken into beautiful.”

As Maggie’s feet hit the stairs that lead up to their rental, she suddenly stopped and turned to give her father a hug. “Daddy, I think today was about more than finding the treasure of shells, it was about noticing all of God’s treasures around us.”

“I think you’re right Maggie, God’s masterpiece is in us and all around us.”