Glass Beach

We were going to Kauai for the first time as a family and I had my 'to do' list in hand. I went online to find out the Top Ten Things To Do When In Kauai! One of them was to visit GLASS BEACH. Just the sound of that beach attracted me to want to go there. My imagination saw sparkling chips of sea glass, shiny and brilliantly colorful like diamonds and then I also imagined a very obvious difference in the other beaches comparing to Glass Beach. I had read a few reviews online before coming to this destination and this is where the family expedition all began. I remember bugging my sweet family over and over during this blissful time on the Island of Kauai, "When are we going to go find Glass Beach?" I also remember at this time of our vacation my very talented mom had started making jewelry for her home based EtsyVictoria&CharlotteTreasures shop using sea glass out of all things and here I was going to the exotic Hawaiian Islands and I could come back and give her some real authentic lovelies! Oh I was so excited to find this gem of a beach. My family and I started by using the GPS to find it this one day of our 5 day Island paradise holiday but the trusty device was getting us no where but LOST over and over and our peaceful time together was getting rather intense in my quest to find the destination. The suspense was getting to me more by this time but I remember seeing rustic old beach sign on the side of this main road we were traveling on and it very vaguely said, "Glass Beach" and a little arrow pointing to a very narrow, bumpy road leading us down to the shore. We found it! I was happy but also surprised at the lack of sparkle and this truly was not what I had envisioned it to be. There really isn't a single negative square inch to talk about on this glorious Island so I am not complaining at all. I just remember my mind thinking this beach was going to be must more amazing from reading the descriptions.

Something I learned while at glass beach is that what we were actually holding in our hands and looking at here at Glass Beach was Sea Glass. Sea glass is glass found from bottles, flasks, windshields and windows.  The glass found at Glass Beach was broken bottles and auto glass dumped by Swiss Cheese Shoreline on the western end of Kauai. Located in Hanapepe Bay near Port Allen Harbor, Glass Beach is a stretch of glittering pieces of broken glass. It’s amazing to see what the ocean did to all that junk. The one thing that could mar the ethereal effect of Glass Beach is the gas tanks overlooking one side of the beach. This is amazing that old and discarded broken bottles of glass from a factory could turn into something so beautiful. I stood there after reading the informational plaque they had there at the beach for tourists and I realized that this is a very significant truth about our lives and God our creator. We all have something broken, something discarded, something abandoned that brings us a lack in our lives, but God molds and shapes and turns those things into something beautiful. The sharp edges of the broken glass are smoothed over to become little pieces of art work on the sandy beach in Kauai, can also take place in your life. Allowing Jesus to take those broken pieces and smooth them over to become what He intended to bring life to. When I reconsidered my disappointment of what I thought the sand would look like after thinking over it I found it all to be very wonderful. I put some in my hand and placed a few of these small gems in a beach bag and we went on our way. It was such a fun adventure.

What areas of your life are still not smoothed out? Are you allowing the bitterness from the past keep those edges sharp? 

Allow God today to smooth out those area of brokenness so you can experience His healing and peace.

“Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath….And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you.” (Psalm 39:4-5, 7)