A few days ago, the preschoolers from the First Baptist Academy were going out to the playground, which is just behind my office.  As it had recently rained, when they came through the gate and entered the playground, one of the little tykes gleefully exclaimed: “Good mud!”  I smiled to myself, and thought, ah, the simple pleasures of life!

A couple of days later, it was one of those Saturday mornings when I did not have to be up particularly early.  That was nice.  Even more, it was raining!  I LOVE to sit and watch — or just listen — to the rain.  (I even love storms — if a loved one is not out in it!)  It was so nice, for a few minutes, to lay there, with nowhere I had to be, and to listen to the rain falling in our back yard.  Reminded of the preschooler’s exclamation about the mud, I thought: “Good storm!”  One of my favorite “simple pleasures”!

Then this Sunday, we had a special guest at our church, Sanjay Charan, the pastor of Living Stone Fellowship in Delhi, with whom we have a missons partnership.  He did a marvelous job of sharing in our services, and on Monday we got to spend some time with him.   One of the things he wanted to do was to go to the beach.  At first, when I was told his request, I was very skeptical: “He wants to go to the beach HERE?”  (By “here” I meant Holly Beach, which is often scorned by the locals, as it not Destin or Panama City!)  But yes, he did want to go, as this was his first trip outside of India, and he had never been to the beach at all — anywhere!   I thought, ok, I can understand that then — and so off to the “beach” we went! 

As we were driving, I thought, “I hope we see some alligators along the way, so it may soften our disappointement with the beach.”  I didn’t think our chances were very good, however, as it is March, and still fairly cold, and we haven’t typically seen alligators out that much when the weather is cool.  But after the drive to Sulphur, and then down Highway 27 to Holly Beach, we finally arrived. 

We could see the row of houses lined up along the shore before we could see the beach itself.  I said, this must be it.  We had not been to Holly Beach since before Hurricane Rita, which was in 2005, so it has been at least 6 years — and probably longer — since we had visited!  I was pleasantly surprised.  When we pulled up to the beach, Sanjay, exclaimed (in his cute Indian accent) “Wow!”  I have to admit that I was taken with it too.  The wind was blowing pretty briskly; I would guess at least 30 miles an hour, and the waves were bigger than I expected.  There was pretty sand on the beach, and it wasn’t trashed out.  All of the buildings were new — they had all been rebuilt since the hurricane.  It was nice! 

Sanjay began to take some pictures.  I said to him, “Now, we have to take our shoes off and get in the water.  You’ve come all this way; you have to say you got in — and get a picture to prove it!”  He was a little hesitant, but as I was pulling off my shoes and socks, he followed my lead.  Soon we were both standing side by side in the water while Cheryl took our picture.  It was fun.

And that wasn’t the end of it.  Yes, the water was cool, but after I stepped out, I decided that I had really enjoyed wading in the water.  I wanted to go back in — and I did.  I spend most of the next hour looking like an idiot, with my slacks rolled up to my knees, wading in the surf.  Occasionally an extra large wave would come in, and before long I was fairly drenched.  But I loved every minute of it.

I suggested to Sanjay that he might want to pick up some sea shells as “souvenirs” for his kids, so we all began combing the beach for “treasures.”  He picked out a number that he liked.  Then he spotted some parasailers about a quarter of a mile down from us, and asked if we could walk down that way so he could take pictures of them.  Of course I said yes; so we sauntered over in that direction — I was still wading!   After we watched for a while, and had taken plenty of pictures, it was time to go back. 

That’s always the part I don’t like about the beach — getting back into the car.  It is always dicey, trying to get all of the sand off of you, in the best of circumstances.  It is worse when you really didn’t dress for it.  We did our best to brush the sand off with some Kleenex, and I rolled my wet pant legs back down so they could dry out while I drove.  Usually being gritty and unkempt like that would just drive me crazy — but it didn’t Monday.  I just so enjoyed wading on the beach.  I think I may need to go back again soon — perhaps with some swimming trunks and sandals next time — and enjoy that “simple pleasure” again!

The sad thing is, that beach is only an hour away — and I hadn’t been in over 6  years.  How many other “simple pleasures” just like that are we missing — or taking for granted?  

I remember when we moved to the First Baptist Church of Beggs, Oklahoma, to pastor, in 1991.  The church’s parsonage, where we lived, was at the top of a hill that overlooked the town.  The first day there I looked down from that hill and just marveled at how beautiful the view was.  At church the next day, I mentioned to one of our neighbors about the beauty of that view from the hill.  They responded with something like, “What view?”  I thought, these folks have been here so long, they don’t even notice that breath-taking sight any more!  They just take it for granted.  That day I vowed that I would never do that; that I would always stop and admire that simple beauty.  We served at FBC Beggs for only 3 years, but I can say that I kept that “vow.”  I always loved that view. 

Maybe there is a “view from the hill” in your life that you are taking for granted?  Or a “Holly Beach” near you — with some wonderfully simple pleasure just waiting for you to remember that God has placed it there for you to enjoy?  I hope that you will find some “simple pleasure” He has given you this week.  When you do, thank Him with a simple, heart-felt smile, and with a whisper of a prayer of thanks.

Oh — and we did see a HUGE alligator on the way back from the beach Monday!