Hey :) I'm in Finland! The last months have been filled with emotions, answers to prayer, confusion and rejoicing from one end of the spectrum to the other... I will post an entry about insights from general life soon, but here is something I wrote the other day (17.09 to be exact) when I found out that I can go on a ferry to Suomenlinna using my travel card (which is for all public transport within Helsinki.) It was a much needed moment to finally sit down in silence and really acknowledge the fact that here I am. And it was basically a free ferry ride. Awesome.
Oh, and I will take this moment to thank you for reading my blog! Feedback is always appreciated, Leave a comment, on here or on facebook ;]
Aaand, last thing: I had so many pictures I wanted to use for this entry that they didn't really all fit, so keep an eye out for the embedded links, you'll find more cool and relevant pictures ^_^
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I love the ocean.
I love the inconsistent consistency of it. It is always
there, yet it is never the same. It is different every time but cannot be
mistaken.
One of the rare times I wrote a song it was about the ocean,
and the highlight of my high school
career was probably the view of Camps Bay beach from every classroom window (very
beneficial during finals…) And the beach at night in Natures Valley when the
luminescent plankton lit up the waves… <3
Watching the sea
water serenely slosh on the rocks and spread out to the horizon, with boats
happily sailing along and bobbing out of sight under the angle of the earth’s
curve, flooded me with peace. Here I am
on the other side of the world, and here is the ocean with me, like always; and
how much more so is God with me.
Initially I was going to comment on how funny it is that you
can find a deeper spiritual message in just about anything in the world, or be
reminded about an aspect of God in everyday things. But, the more I thought about it, the more
serious the thought became. He made this world. Everything in it is proclaiming
his awesomeness! I shouldn't be surprised that anything reminds me of the
Creator. Often we are just too busy living in our little bubbles to look deeper
and notice God in the everyday things, and that is why when we do take a moment
to stop and pay attention, it seems so profound.
And there on the rocks of Suomenlinna’s shore, toes in the Baltic Sea, I had that sudden insight;
God is like the ocean! Obviously
it is an imperfect resemblance, since God is perfect and omni-lots of stuff,
but it was cool drawing parallels.
- God, and the ocean to an extent; can be trusted to always be there.
- God, and the ocean to an extent, is constant through change, but there still will be something new to discover daily if you look for it.
- God, and the ocean to an extent, is powerful. What can mere man do against the forces of nature, riptides, and much less, God? When he wants to do something, it will be done.
- God is beautiful, and the ocean reflects this!
And the awesomest part? God’s love for you is even deeper
than deepest part of the ocean and wider than the fattest distance you could
measure across it! (11km deep (Mariana Trench) and 14 000 km (pacific
ocean) respectively) And nothing can
separate you from it.
Four months. I’d been here exactly four months before I
finally stuck my toes back into the ocean. I moved to Helsinki, which is on the
shore of the Baltic sea, a month ago and the docks are barely a kilometre away
from where I am studying. How did I manage?
The busy newness of life kept me from venturing down to the seashore. I
didn’t even realise how much I missed the ocean until I saw it.
And I think that can
often be the case with your personal relationship with God. The high buildings
of life you have surrounded yourself with stop you from seeing how near he
really is. How big he really is. How much he wants to be a part of your life!
And you don’t realise how much you are missing out on until you make the
effort, take the unexpected turn (in my case, a ferry ride to an island) and
end up watching the sun setting into a sparkling never-the-same-colour ocean.
You should try it out. It’s the best. ^^
P.S
Can you tell which pictures are from South Africa and which from Finland?
Comparing the seashore here to the beaches in Cape Town is like comparing the Atlantic to God,
imperfect comparison of course ;)
P.P.S
Aahh I have to link this; because it was so funny, and here it is so true. No waves.
If you fancy a laugh watch the whole thing. If you just want to know what I'm talking about skip to 1:42.
