Jeremy and I are spending our second anniversary at my step-grandparents’ beach house on Bainbridge Island. This morning we walked along the shell-strewn sand while, five miles across the sound, Pastor Mark preached about God’s love, creating man in His image.

As the tide receded and the clams took to breathing in the fresh sea air, we took broken shells and dove onto the mini clam-geysers that sprayed up in random succession all around us. To our chagrin, all our scooping only revealed little wiggling clam butts as they muscled away to safety under bubbling puddles of kelp. Tricky little devils! For revenge, we trotted down the beach annihilating the empty shells of their less fortunate brothers, giggling at the gratifying crunch our posthumous mortification created. Seagulls screamed, waves rolled, and we subdued the earth. On our way back, we held hands and talked about our spiritual goals for our third year of marriage.

My step-family includes interior designers, quiet atheists, busy businessmen, and doting grandparents. To comfort themselves with thoughts of love and hope, they have lined the walls of the beach house with hundreds of happy memories and witty sayings. The photographs are of my preschool-aged step-cousins crabbing, fort-building, and being generally adorable while the placards are the trendy wood-type saying, “Once you’ve slept on an island, you’re never quite the same”, “If life is a stage, I want better lighting”, and “What if the hokey pokey IS what it’s all about?”

As we stepped in from our walk it was easier to see these superficial trappings as artifacts of a longing deeper than a simple design element. I was confronted with the thought that, to them, ‘the good life’ may actually BE what it’s all about. No powerful Creator. No loving Sustainer. No personal God.

My first spiritual goal this year is to use my Biblical knowledge instead of hiding it inside for only me to see. I took a deep breath and asked God for a chance at a conversation this year: Guess what? I’ve got some Good News you guys! And it’s not about the hokey pokey….