Don't Junk Up The Place! (Chapel A Day 2014 Day 5)

I smiled as my feet pounded the pavement. It was good to be back out running, after days of pretty but cold weather.. or warm but rainy weather.

I smiled as I put my earbuds in and began to listen to music that pumped me up. I smiled as I put one foot in front of the other on my 5 mile route which included pavement and beautiful white beach sand.

About halfway into my run, I stopped smiling. Strewn along my usual route, I came upon discarded beer cans and a broken wine bottle. I ran past cigarette butts tossed on the streets and in the sand. I veered around smashed fruit in the middle of the road. It wasn't a lot of litter, but then again... any litter is too much litter.

It took me back to the "chapel" of Day 5's Lenten Journey.

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The Cross of Pensacola Beach. It stands high above the sands as you wind westward toward Ft. Pickens. According to the website visitpensacolabeach.com, the cross commemorates the first Christian mass held in the United States. It's been a fixture on Pensacola Beach since 1959. Hurricanes have come... and gone... dunes have been flattened, boats upended... houses destroyed.. but the beach cross...and the dune on which it is anchored... still stand.

I wasn't really sure why I was drawn to the outdoor sanctuary of Day 5. It took a morning run on Day 6 to help me figure it out and be able to write about it.

This beach is so very precious to those of us who have been blessed to grow up on.. or to grow up a sand dollar's throw from. Vacation season on this beach, and many other beaches, has begun.Disclaimer:  I AM NOT BLAMING THE UNUSUAL AMOUNT OF LITTER I ENCOUNTERED ON VISITORS! The timing may be coincidental. But, it got me to thinking.

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We beach-lovers and beach-dwellers love visitors. We love sharing our slice of Paradise with teenagers, families and college students. We love watching folks from the frozen north stand at the surf and watch a sunrise or sunset.. or frolicking dolphins.. or surfers... or sand crabs. 

We only ask that visitors and residents alike treat this beautiful place with respect while they are here.. and clean up after themselves. Like the beach cross, we want the beauty of this beach to be around as long as "forever" may be. We want it to be pretty for those who come after us.

It made me think about Planet Earth. 

You know.. I bet the One who created this beach.. and everything else on this planet wants us to stop junkin' up the place. I bet He wants us to respect his creation  for as long as we are here.. and to clean up after ourselves in order to keep things pretty for those who come after us. 

By the way, the visitpensacolabeach.com website also has this to say about the cross "There is no scientific explanation as to why the dune and the cross have been spared so many times. According to several residents, the answer will never come from science but instead can be found from within."

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Indeed.

On my return path on the day's run, I came across a random grocery bag drifting across the street. Well, how about that? God had just provided me with a way to put action to my feelings! After all, you can put a lot of discarded beer cans and cigarette butts in one of those bags. Coincidence? Nah. How do I know that? The answer comes from within.

I stooped, I scooped...and, I smiled.