Life’s a beach…
Imagine that you are standing on a beach. You have 100 pounds of seaweed in your right hand. It is wet, heavy, messy, smelly, tangled, and has bugs crawling in it. It is generally unpleasant in virtually every way. It is heavy enough that you are straining just to keep from dropping it. And you don’t want to drop it because you perceive that mixed in with the unpleasant seaweed are many important things you would not want to drop. So, you hang on.
In your left hand you have one tiny, shiny grain of sand. Though it is small it is very pleasant to look at as it catches the sunlight. Have you ever noticed how a beach sparkles in the sunlight? If you were to look at this shiny grain of sand under a magnifying glass you would see that it looks almost like a jewel or gem because it has been polished by the pounding waves for thousands of years.
What weighs more, the seaweed or the grain of sand? Of course the seaweed far outweighs the grain of sand. But what does each represent?
The seaweed represents all the problems, trials, challenges, annoyances, frustrations, overwhelm, inundation and stress that often accompanies some of the weighty, urgent, important things in our lives.
The tiny, shiny grain of sand represents the little things in life that we feel good about. It could be any little thing, even as small as cleaning your sock drawer and feeling good about it, or doing a good deed for someone, or getting a hug from a child, or appreciating the beauty of a rare double rainbow. The point is that these are the small things in life that we feel good about. As nice as these little things are, and as good as they make us feel, the seaweed still far outweighs the individual grains of sand. However, where did I say you were standing? That’s right, on a beach. And what weighs more, the hundred pounds of seaweed or the entire beach? Of course, it is not even close. The beach may weigh millions of tons. The seaweed pales in comparison. There is an old saying, “I can’t see the forrest for the trees.” Well, sometimes we cannot see the beach for the seaweed. We need to count the tiny, shiny grains of sand in our lives so that they can accumulate in our hearts and minds, thus forming a beach of happiness, peace, and success.
Oh, the seaweed will still be there, but I can promise you it will pale in comparison to the beach full of wonderful things in your life.
I will leave you with a little poem I wrote to remind you of this principle of the Sand and the Seaweed:
The Shining Sand
by Kip Kint
The other night I had a dream
I was standing on a beach
Heavy seaweed filled my arms
Relief could not be reached
I wondered why this burden was mine
Such heavy weight to bear
This seaweed filled with sorrow
Requiring all my care
Then in my dream I understood
The meaning of it all
The seaweed was all my trials
And bearing them was my call
Then in the midst of my labor
I saw the sand sparkling bright
At once it came to me with clarity
The shortness of my sight
Each grain of sand had been polished
Over thousands of years of time
By the pounding waves of the ocean
Into priceless jewels sublime
These little gems, though lighter
Than the seaweed in my hold
Represent the small but priceless things
With worth much greater than gold
And though the weight of the seaweed was great
And weighed upon my mind
The weight of the entire beach was greater
With those grains of sand combined
When you can’t see the forest for the trees
Because the weight of challenges demand
You may be focused on seaweed so much
That you cannot see the sand
That precious sand, those little things
They have so much to teach
But only if we count them up
Will they ever make a beach
A beach of blessings, a beach of joy
A beach where one can stand
And know that life’s heavy seaweed is light
When compared to its shining sand
To Your Success!
Kip Kint
Success Coach & President
Mission Ignition, Inc.