{"id":16069,"date":"2019-02-18T12:44:06","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T17:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nearariver.com\/?p=16069"},"modified":"2026-09-10T11:23:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T15:23:05","slug":"understand-life-near-a-river-bj-rae-eagle-encouragement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/understand-life-near-a-river-bj-rae-eagle-encouragement\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Understand Life?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you understand life?\u00a0 I do not understand it fully, but I do understand these things…<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"near
Photograph by BJ Rae<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some days life is too hard, and other days it is quite enjoyable.<\/p>\n

As I watched the sunrise on a Florida beach the past few mornings, I realized that understanding life requires an understanding of the beach.<\/p>\n

Yes, life is like a beach.<\/h4>\n

First, the sky.<\/h4>\n

Sometimes the sky is too cloudy, and the clouds seem to hide the sun.\u00a0 But eventually, the sun peaks out above or through the clouds, and the clouds pass.\u00a0 At other times, there is so much sun that its light forces you to squint your eyes.\u00a0 But this overwhelming sunlight passes just as the clouds pass.<\/p>\n

Life is like the sky at the beach.\u00a0 If you do not like what is happening presently, you just need to endure it for a short while.\u00a0 Always understand that your present circumstances will change.<\/p>\n

Second, the sand and waves.<\/h4>\n

When I walk along the beach near the waves, the water seems to chase me up the shore to drier ground. These waves are like the issues, good and bad, in my life.\u00a0 I allow some of them to chase me further up the beach to dry ground, but sometimes I jump in and get my feet wet. Whether I try to escape to dry ground when I see them coming or jump into them to experience them more fully, I cannot completely avoid them.<\/p>\n

Another fact about the waves is that they continually erode the sand along the shore and reshape it.<\/p>\n

Additionally, sometimes I see trash on the sand, empty bottles, and other empty food packages, evidence that others have been enjoying the beach.<\/p>\n

Life is like the sand and the waves at the beach.\u00a0 Just as there is trash on the beach, negatives will pop up in your life.\u00a0 To cope with life successfully, you must learn to ignore the negatives and focus on other things in your life.\u00a0 These negatives are just reminders of others’ actions and words, and most of these are best forgotten! Remember that both good and bad issues will present themselves continually, and you cannot avoid them. And, yes, all of these things–the negatives, the good, and the bad–will reshape your life.<\/p>\n

Third, the weather at the shore.<\/h4>\n

Most of the time, the weather is pleasant, but at other times it causes damage.\u00a0 Weather systems can blow violent storms to the land from the ocean, and these storms batter the coastline.\u00a0 After the storm passes, we must first assess the damage. This restoration process takes time and patience.<\/p>\n

Life is like the weather at the shore. \u00a0When storms batter your life, you need to weather them as best you can.\u00a0 After they pass, you need to figure out how to restore your life.\u00a0 Always remember that this takes time, energy, and patience.<\/p>\n

Fourth, the shells.<\/h4>\n

Have you ever tried to find a perfect conch shell on a beach? Most of the shells that wash up on the sand are common shells.\u00a0 Some damaged conch shells and other rare shells wash up too.\u00a0 Rarely can you find a perfect conch shell, except in a few places like the beach on Sanibel Island.\u00a0 On Sanibel Island, whole and perfect rare shells frequently wash up on the shore.<\/p>\n

The people in your life are like the shells on a beach.\u00a0 If you are looking for a perfect person, you will have to look for a long time or in the right place. Otherwise, you will not find him or her.\u00a0 If you do not want to spend your whole life searching, you can treasure the people in your life, imperfect as they are.\u00a0 Remember that you are not perfect either.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

When our life ends, our bodies will erode just as the waves continually erode the shoreline.\u00a0 And after this happens, those we leave behind will remember us.\u00a0 Will others remember you with fondness?\u00a0 Or will they remember you with indifference or dislike?<\/p>\n

As we drove near the shore, I have often seen bumper stickers with the words, \u201cLife is a beach\u201d.\u00a0 Now I understand why people share those words as often as they do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let the\u00a0encouraging words<\/a>\u00a0in these\u00a0near\u00a0a river<\/a> posts help you<\/h4>\n

soar like an\u00a0eagle<\/a>\u00a0above life\u2019s storms.<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your past does not define your life!<\/h4>\n

Forge ahead with a purpose in mind.<\/a><\/h4>\n

Make your life easier–with fast passes!<\/a><\/h4>\n

This will help you make life more beautiful…<\/a><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Enjoy BJ\u2019s\u00a0encouraging words<\/a><\/h4>\n

on\u00a0near a river<\/a>!<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you understand life?\u00a0 I do not understand it fully, but I do understand these things… Some days life is too hard, and other days it is quite enjoyable. As I watched the sunrise on a Florida beach the past Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1862,718,133],"tags":[1588,77,1271,1269,1328,1334,1270,1329,1337,1714,1332,1321,12,1331,1330,1320,1273,1322,1302,1274,1323,1325,1326,1324,19,1275,1319,1318,716,1327,1336,1335,1268,9397,9396,9398,1333,297,9395,1299],"class_list":["post-16069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-problems-near-a-river-bj-rae-encouraging-words-eagle","category-healthy-near-river-bj-rae-eagle","category-successful-bj-rae","tag-common-core-eagle-reading-book","tag-bj-rae","tag-books-for-children","tag-books-for-kids","tag-child-eagle-reading-book","tag-childrens-book","tag-childrens-books","tag-childrens-eagle-reading-book","tag-childrens-reading-book","tag-common-core-book","tag-common-core-reading-book","tag-core-reading-book","tag-eagle","tag-eagle-book-for-child","tag-eagle-child-book","tag-eagle-children-book","tag-eagle-childrens-book","tag-eagle-core-reading-book","tag-eagle-kid-book","tag-eagle-kids-book","tag-eagle-reading-book","tag-eagle-reading-book-for-child","tag-eagle-reading-book-for-children","tag-eagle-reading-book-for-kids","tag-encouragement","tag-encouraging","tag-encouraging-childrens-book","tag-encouraging-kids-book","tag-encouraging-words","tag-kid-eagle-reading-book","tag-kid-reading-book","tag-kids-book","tag-kids-books","tag-life-is-a-beach","tag-life-is-like-a-beach","tag-lifes-a-beach","tag-reading-book","tag-soar-like-an-eagle","tag-understand-life","tag-words-of-encouragement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16069"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21260,"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16069\/revisions\/21260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}