Beach Graffiti

My life is full of meaningful relationships. In a typical week I probably meet with four or five friends for a quick latte to catch up on their latest and swap the stories of our lives. These friends are a significant part of my daily life, and traveling the pilgrim road with them lightens my load making the journey much more fun!  

Equally significant, but so very different, is another group of friends that serves as shepherds or mentors to me. Often older than I, their influence has been strategic and life-changing. I have been blessed to have many mentors come and go in my life and offer their encouragement, vision, and wisdom. These are the people I can never spend enough time with, and when they are gone; I grieve for the most. 

This week I lost a man who called me back to the faith I had abandoned my freshman year of high school. He was determined that I not waste a minute more of my life on empty pursuits and selfish ambition, so he began to challenge me. Not intimidated at all by my rebellion, he jumped into the center of my storm and offered me hope that God would never leave me or forsake me. He assured me that God's plan for my life was good, and he was right.  Thirty-two years later, he's still right!

Beach Graffitti is dedicated to my high school youth sponsor.

Write my name in the sand,
shifting earth soon to erase.
Etched in grit, moved by wind;
wiped away by human tears.

Write my name,
claim it here.
Tide comes in to wash away,
the memory of my days.

Water thunders, dumping dirt;
debris of disappointment.
Crashing waves meet jagged crags
life's defining moments.

Write my name in the sand,
such a foolish girl.
Write your name,
it is no more.

Waves come in and take beyond.
ebb and flow, in and out,
High and low, push and pull.
life expended on the shore.

Write my name in the sand,
triumph to the world.
Leaving tribute to myself...
expended all for naught.

Inscribe my name on eternity's shore,
the Master calls me home.
My years a tribute all to Him
life forever more!

Copyright © Donna A. Tallman, 2009 Please contact author at delsie2002@yahoo.com for permission to reprint.