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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: The Writer’s Skill/Craft (04/22/10)
The cold sea spray felt exhilarating as it pinged against my face that wondrous summer afternoon. The red-orange sun hung low across the amber-colored horizon and seals and dolphins frolicked where the waves broke free. My bare feet oozed into wet sand as I meandered on the beach scanning for seashells. Upon hearing the screeching of seagulls and sandpipers vying for tasty morsels left by the receding tide I took in a big breath of salty air and sang out “How Great Thou Art!” My heart swelled with joy as I sang into the wind; delighting in a time of worship with the Heavenly Creator. The outcome of this day led me to a deeper understanding of how Christ had meticulously crafted his creation into beautiful works of art. God is the Great Author and Creator, and what He had crafted is the ultimate masterpiece.

The wind-whipped waves ushered in dozens of gritty sand dollars, which I eagerly scooped up. Washing off the sand in the foamy water I was disheartened to discover that the fragile round shells were damaged and not the whole, perfect specimens I had anticipated. Most of the shells were broken; splintered or crushed in the center where the star formation should have been. Many of the sand dollars were severely discolored and others had tar and unknown debris cemented to them, but I continued to collect them as they were pretty in their own special way.

Shortly after that adventure, I was browsing a touristy novelty shop of beach-themed kitsch. Setting down the plastic mermaid–embracing-a-pelican-figurine, my eyes unexpectedly lit upon a display of a small artificial Christmas tree. The green tree was creatively adorned with delicate ornaments fashioned from whitened sand dollars that were bedecked in ribbons, flowers and lace. With an “I can do that!” mind set, I thought how simple they would be for me to make, using the broken shells picked up a few days earlier.

I took the idea home with me and started the process of cleansing the dirty, gray sand dollars by soaking them in bleach. I scrubbed off the tar and other impurities and placed them in the warm sunshine to dry. Eventually, they became a bright white color, free of blemish and ready for enhancement. I filled in the gaps with bits of silk flowers, tiny bows, strawflowers and baby’s breath. They turned out beautiful. Both drastic and simple changes made something unappealing morph into visually engaging objects of art.

As Christians, God is our master crafter in that He takes the rough draft of our broken and ugly soul and deletes impurities by His cleansing blood. His unconditional Love provides the powerful nouns and verbs that fill in the crushed voids. At specific points, God adds formatted flourishes that make each person unique for the final edition

Although the sand dollars I found upon the beach that day were not very attractive, I wanted them; for I knew that they were salvageable. Like the redeemed sand dollars, God has taken his creation from a bland and poorly structured layout to the coherent and trimmed format that binds the Christian into His own image.
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This article has been read 937 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Yvonne Blake 
04/30/10
You have certainly shown your writer skill in describing the sensations of walking on a beach. Well done!
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
04/30/10
This is well-written and inspirational.

Your first paragraph might seem less daunting if you split it into 2 or 3 paragraphs.

I'd hate to have anyone look at the first paragraph and then skip over your wonderful message. It is so wonderful how God can take something broken and turn it into a beauty.
angelos2 wark
04/30/10
You did a fine job relating what God can do with broken and discarded lives. He always sees the diamond in the rough. Or in this case the sand dollar less than perfect.
A writer has the ability to do likewise with words from the heart.
Jackie Wilson
05/03/10
This was a lovely message, written beautifully.
Allison Egley 
05/03/10
I loved the story.

I saw a lot of "craft" and "skill" but I didn't really see "writing," at least not in the story itself.

I think I'd like to have one of those sand dollar creations. They sound pretty neat!
Catrina Bradley
05/03/10
This is lovely! With a beautiful message, too. I could picture (and feel) the beach. The topic is weak - you barely mentioned writing - but your point was well made and illustrated. Nice devotional piece. :)
AnneRene' Capp
05/03/10
Wow, I found this to have an extremely nourishing message and growing up on the ocean, you took me right back. I could feel the oozing sand, hear the seagulls and smell that ocean spray. I found your descriptions of everything just as ornamental as your tree. AND I learned a new work "Kitsch" so enjoyed that as well. NOT being a grammar expert...did also think the first paragraph needed to be broken into several more but outside of that, this honestly, soothed me as I read it.
Joan Campbell
05/03/10
Don't feel bad about few comments - I think it happened to lots of us this week!

I really enjoyed this beautiful devotion, with its powerful, memorable message.

I did struggle to see the theme initially, but you brought it through in the last few paragraphs.

I felt you may have slightly over-used adjectives and adverbs. If you check Jann's classes on the board, she's done one on that subject.

On the whole I think you should be very proud of this one, Barb!
R Quist
05/03/10
I enjoyed this much also. The main thing I would do, if it were my article, would be to change "The outcome of this day LED ME to a deeper understanding of how Christ had meticulously crafted his creation into beautiful works of art. God is the Great Author and Creator, and what He had crafted is the ultimate masterpiece." I'd make it: "The outcome of this day WOULD LEAD ME TO ..." and give those two sentences their own paragraph. Your use of past tense in that particular spot in that sentence leaves me as a reader kind of scrabbling around trying to figure out why I've missed the specific things that already led to that understanding in what I've already read. However, I agree with everyone above that this is a beautiful devotional with excellent description that brings my own walks on the beach back vividly.
Jan Ackerson
05/03/10
This is gorgeous is its own right--wouldn't have taken much to make it slightly more on topic. The metaphor is there, in your title and in your next-to-last paragraph (implied in the resot of the piece). Just expand that a bit, and this is a real beauty!
Carol Slider 
05/03/10
Thanks for the reminder that God can make everything beautiful... even our "rough drafts"!
Carol Penhorwood 
05/03/10
Creatively done, Barb! I loved "this walk on the beach". Your descriptions vividly showed the handiwork of God.