Hello, beautiful people,

I hope that your year is already feeling new and fresh. I am in-joy with my summer. I think that is what enjoying something is all about, being in the fulness of joy. I have been de-cluttering my house today since I think that is a great way to get my environment feeling fresh and new. As I’ve been going through things and ruthlessly chucking away “stuff” that we just don’t use but sits around and around and around, I’m seeing projects that I had full intentions of tackling in 2014 but just didn’t get around to completing. Some of them are never going to be completed and I am alright with that…I’ve moved forward and they are no longer necessary. (But I promise you that on Wednesday morning after my husband reads this post today, he will be going through the rubbish bin left for the garbage truck to collect. 😉 Bless his heart he can’t help himself. Nonetheless, I will persevere and things are going. Hear me, honey?)

I have also been busy in my creative element during these new days of 2015. I have been combing my local beach for sea glass,walking (I’m counting that as exercise),

inhaling the salt air and exhaling any stress,

admiring and photographing the beautiful scenery

and allowing the warmth of the sun to kiss my face.

It’s good for the soul.

This week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is “New”. While the beaches in Bluff aren’t new, I have discovered a, new-to-me, little beach that is richly covered with sea glass. I’ve been down there everyday collecting sea-tossed treasures.

I’ve also been reading about sea glass and have found that some colors are quite rare, like pink and purple. I have already come across several pieces with a little pink or purple hue to them. How fun is that?

My husband keeps telling me that they are just broken pieces of glass and therefore, he’s not that excited about the “junk” I’m collecting. We, men and women, are so different in how we perceive things, aren’t we.

Yet, when I look at those tiny shards of glass that have been tossed, plummeted, ground and eventually smoothed, I can’t help but think of the broken, shattered pieces of our hearts. Life has a way of shattering us and we can feel like we are being tossed to and fro. Difficulty rounds our rough, jagged edges. Although the brokenness may still exist, the process creates beauty and usefulness for new purposes. We just have to be able to recognise how to use them. They will be useful.

As I have been reading, I have discovered that some pretty creative people have used sea glass for pictures, mosaics, jewellery making and I’ve even seen them fashioned as bowls. What once was a bottle, plate, or other vessel that was shattered to bits, can be repurposed as an art form and enjoyed.

If your heart is feeling disappointed and broken today, don’t lose hope. Follow the journey to the end and watch as your life transforms and beauty emerges once again. Those broken pieces will take on a new shape and form that will be useful and possibly even enjoyable (in joy). You might not be able to see it today, but give it time. Time won’t heal (sorry, I don’t believe that time heals all things) but over time, change occurs and life takes on a newness that is worth while.

Do you want proof? Look at some of the most beautiful people in your life. I guarantee they have been where you are, witting with a pain filled heart. They have made it through and so will you.

You are not junk…you are a treasure. I’m sure of it!