He that will learn to pray, let him go to sea.~George Herbert

Prior to leaving on a jet plane to return to Chicago , I sought sanctuary in the sand to pray and listen to the ocean. As I gathered shells filled with sand and stories, I listened to the wisdom of the water. I prayed for the many broken pieces in the lives of loved ones, teachers on strike in the streets of Chicago, the families of Chris Stevens and others killed in Libya, the divisions in our nation…

As I listened to the water, I prayed that the brokenness, conflicts, and violence in our world would be washed away so that peace may flood all hearts, minds, spirits, and governments. As I wrote my prayer for peace in the sand, the waves met it multiple times on their way to and from the shoreline, but did not wash it away. Perhaps the sea, too, awaits the tsunami of peace.

Every time we walk along a beach some ancient urge disturbs us so that we find ourselves shedding shoes and garments or scavenging among seaweed and whitened timbers like the homesick refugees of a long war.  ~Loren Eiseley