A Modest Thought

As I’ve noted through the years, Marney loves to walk on the beaches and collect shells.  She’s been to beaches mostly along the East Coast, the Caribbean, and the Sea of Cortez (Baja California).  And her collection is 99 44/100% composed of “nearly perfect” shells.  There are no chips, holes, ragged edges.  A Mexican Hat must be perfect.  So must the small conches and clam shells.  And she’s very good at finding them. 

We have collections of her shells scattered throughout our home.  We even have a desk lamp where we filled the glass base with shells and successfully reassembled the wiring and light fixture.  On our boat, we have a Pusser’s Rum Cup filled with her latest collection of shells.

Yesterday, she took the paddleboard to a new beach and found some miniature ones.

This morning, we took a walk along the edge of Leinster Bay, St. John.  The shoreline is  filled with smooth rocks, small pebbles and broken shells.  The broken shells are crushed by the waves to fit into the gaps between the rocks.  It would be rare to find a nearly-perfect shell here.

We’ve learned to use broken shells in many ways.  Shellcrete is made from shells and limestone and is used as a construction material all along the southeast and Gulf coast.  Like concrete, it’s sturdy enough to protect even in the waves and winds of hurricanes.

…from broken shells. 

PICS

It seems the shell world is composed of two kinds: the nearly-perfect ones, and the broken and chipped ones. 

So…how about humanity?  Maybe we humans have divided ourselves into the nearly-perfect ones (with their fame, beauty, easy lives), and the rest of us – with our chips, holes, and ragged edges.

As with shells, we collect the nearly-perfect ones to put them on display and God uses the rest to build the shorelines.   Similarly, maybe we idolize the nearly-perfect ones too much and forget that God uses the rest of us to build life. 

And what we build comes as much from our imperfections as anything else.  Maybe.