Shark Teeth

On our first visit to Florida's Gulf Coast we were introduced to shark's teeth. Walking along the beach on Manasota Key, one is most certain to spot at least a few. And if you really search you will soon have a handful!

What started as a fun beach activity has become somewhat of an obsession. Oh not an obsession, as much as a fun way to walk along the beach and feel like you've hit the jackpot. Searching for shark's teeth is great entertainment.

And you're usually not alone. Many others are also walking along the beach, head down, or digging in the little shells along the shoreline, seeking those elusive little black teeth.

And what hope we are filled with, each time we visit the beach! Today we'll find shark teeth! With each collected tooth the hope grows. Searching for shark's teeth is a hopeful activity.

What is it about collecting teeth that I find so much hope in? I think it's the fact that we find them. We find quite a few of them. And with each tooth slipped into the pocket, there is the hope that there will be more to find.

But I think it's the success in finding that makes the searching so much fun. If we spent a morning at the beach looking for teeth and didn't even find one tooth, I'm guessing we would soon give up. We would spend our time at the beach just walking. Not searching.

Isn't the same true in the kindness of people...in the act of moving through our lives? 

There's an old gentleman in our development who sits outside, just in the entrance to his garage. He seems to sit there all day. And he waves, and calls out a greeting to everyone who happens to walk or drive by.

He is like the people searching for shark's teeth. When someone waves back: he found one! Someone calls out a greeting in response to his: A big win! Someone stops to visit and spend a few minutes with him? Well that's hitting the jackpot. Like finding the megalodon - a rare and precious find. 

And if no one were to walk by. Or worse yet, if people walked by and didn't respond to his greetings. If people didn't even look up when he called out to them. If no one ever stopped to shoot the breeze? 

I'm afraid he would stop looking. 

I'm afraid he will lose hope.

Will the beach ever run out of shark's teeth? I hope not. I know we'll keep looking. 

Will people stop smiling, waving, stopping to say hello? I hope not. 

My hope for your world is that you're finding smiles, waves, greetings...and just a few shark's teeth along the way.

For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Romans 8: 24-25