Dave Coy is the Assistant Director at the Central New York Baptist Youth Camp (BaYouCa) in Chenango County, NY. He can be found on Facebook.
Back in 2007 I
wrote…
A few years ago
I was on the beach in Florida with some friends and for some reason I decided
to start digging a hole. No sandcastles or sculptures, just a hole! I had so
much fun that it has become a normal tradition of mine when I go to a beach.
“Why do you
enjoy digging holes so much?”
It’s a good
question! There are a number of reasons as I think about it. I learn so much
from digging a hole.
“What could you
POSSIBLY learn from digging a hole?”
Another good
question! Where do I start?
First of all,
digging a hole is a pretty mindless task. (No comments please!) So it keeps my
hands occupied while I do some good, clear thinking. I’m able to sort through
things going on in my life while I am digging.
It is also neat
to see something start out so small and over time become so big. It just takes
time. This last time I had a hole about four and a half feet deep! There is a
sense of accomplishment there.
It is funny to
watch people go by as I am digging. I would like to think that they are amazed
at what a great hole I am digging, but most likely they are amazed at this
strange guy digging a hole. But it never fails! It seems a young boy always
finds his way over to my hole. One boy even jumped in and helped me! In the
process of digging the hole we got to talk. I found out all about his family
and their vacation; and how he’s never really been to church. It’s a great time
to build a relationship!
Then there’s the
physical exercise. Digging and pushing and pulling the sand is really great
work for muscles.
And, finally,
you finish! It’s amazing to see this HUGE hole in the middle of the beach, big
enough to fit people in it!
But that’s not
the end of the story. This last time that I dug a hole, my friends asked if
they could fill it back in. What took me forty-five minutes to dig, they had
filled back in within two minutes. You would never know there was even a hole
there!
What a waste,
right?
Only if you
forget about everything that I just wrote about!! The people who walked by, the
time to think, the physical exercise and the little boys’ lives I’ve been able
to touch in some way. Who knows? Maybe there is a little ten-year-old somewhere
digging a hole right now! So, what seems like no big deal, and even maybe a
waste of time, can mean SO much and do so much in so many lives!
* * *
Now, seven years
after I wrote those thoughts, we went on vacation in North Carolina, and our
own boys helped me dig another hole. Jax was so excited to get to the beach and
help me dig. It’s kind of a dumb legacy, but it reminds me that I want to leave
both boys a real legacy as well.
[Editor’s note: I wonder if sometimes we leave the
real legacies through our interactions with people during those times in our
lives when we feel as though we’re just digging a hole – we sometimes call them
“ruts”- that will be filled in and forgotten when we’re gone. Thank you, Dave,
for reminding us. hhc]
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