Judging a Book by its Cover! Remnants-Part 1
You'll miss out on gems if you filter by façade.
In 2023, I wrote two books. Both are listed above. Remnants, a personal story, and the second one, Destiny’s Flurry, a magical journey of the formation of a snowflake or is it? I never gave my reading audience, the background for the book covers and I thought it would be a good idea to do that now.
Remnants book cover is an actual picture I took (while vacationing. One of my childhood dreams!) of the Pacific Ocean from the shoreline of Waikiki on Oahu island in Hawaii. Oahu is known as the “Gathering Place” and if you look closely at the book cover you will notice a sailboat and a few heads bobbing in the water. They appear as black areas among the shimmering darkness of the waters of the Pacific as a small storm cloud brews in the distance. And yet, all this darkness is overlooked somehow as the beauty of the sunset breaks through flooding everything and everyone with the glimmer of light adding to its beauty.
What you cannot see on this book cover is what happened that day as I stood on the beach as the sun continued to lower on the horizon. Right before the sun touched the water line in the distance everyone on the beach and in the water turned and in what seemed like silence watched as the sun began its descent into the darkness of the Pacific. Unsure of what was happening around me, I watched and listened.
A group of young men who had just moments prior passed me laughing loudly and enjoying the freedom that comes with youth had stopped and grouped themselves facing the horizon to watch the miracle occur. Everyone on that beach seemed to follow suit. An honoring wave of intent set on one purpose, to see the beauty of life from a distant perspective. A few moments were celebrated as a reminder of what one day, one hour, one minute, and each second holds.
Just a few minutes is all it took for the sun to dab its circular edge into the blackness to be engulfed within its depths. And there I gathered with people I had never met personally and did not know and I contemplated. Different skin colors. Different loves. Different languages. Different walks of life. Different beliefs. Different struggles. Different choices. Different wounds. Different hurts. Different sin__…
Suddenly, jubilant shouts burst through the air with clapping just as the last small sliver of the sun melted into the Pacific. Then it hit me, it was a celebration. I joined in. We were commemorating all the hours, minutes, and seconds that had been given to us to live our lives on that day as the light slipped away. So many differences and yet we all converged together on that beach as one with the lights of the sun’s spectacular rays drawing us together.
I have never been so connected with a group of people as I had that day. As the day began to darken with the absence of the light, my eyes began to refocus. The eyes of my soul had never been more adjusted to seeing beauty. And my perspective was changed. There was a simplicity of understanding that I could not shake. We all have a longing to be connected with others.
This was humanity in all our waiting and yearning. For against this beauty, we were not focused on the distractions that threatened to tear us apart from one another. There was no judgementalism, power struggles, sabotage, or hate. Against this beauty, things that prick us demanding us to pay attention, circumventing our energies and our passions fell away. Against this beauty, our differences are what made the beauty so beautiful. And we were connected for a time and space, gazing at the miracle of it all. Truly it was a gathering place right there. And I thanked God in reverence of it all in that moment.
It is hard to find a place, as I have described above. A place in which small pieces, or remnants, of our lives, are being brought together for one purpose. Undistracted focus on what is most important in life. Our moments. All of them. The beautiful, heart-stopping moments that threaten to take our breath away. And, the ugly, hurtful ones that succeed in pulling the air right out of our lungs. Together, they are beauty and darkness pulling us evermore toward the light.
The Light is God. Without his illumination in our moments there will never be an understanding of ourselves and humanity. Do you have a place such as what I have described? Sure you do. God is always available to you. He would love to show you what humanity looks like in His eyes. Are you ready? Are you open to seeing all people the way God sees them?
Until Next Time,
Carol Maynard, Author
REMNANTS, Finding Beauty in the Scars of Our Dark Spaces can be found on Amazon
Destiny's Flurry, Uncovering the Hidden Quest to Your Extraordinary Potential can be found on Amazon
CONTACT ME: I long to interact with and hear from you.
Please respond to either of these emails, and I will get back to you.
Personal Email: CarolMaynard89@gmail.com
Substack Email: Carollmaynard@substack.com