Finding the Holy in the Everyday: Lessons from Sand Dollars and Nature’s Wonders

“Wow! God was in this place, and I did not know it.”

So declared our biblical ancestor Jacob as he awoke from a dream. Once a deceiver who stirred familial chaos, Jacob now stood at a crossroads between a painful past, a tenuous present and a fear-filled future. Yet, in his dream, Jacob perceived the Holy One’s presence and realized that blessing surrounded him.

Discovering Awe in Nature

Fast forward several thousand years to a windswept seashore on Vancouver Island, where my father-in-law Murray, my wife Michelle, Robert and Catherine and I wandered along the water’s edge. We marveled at the waves’ artistry, crafting intricate designs in the sand. Murray, camera in hand, was giddy, capturing the wonders of island life. Whales breaching, eagles soaring and goats inexplicably grazing on rooftops (Ask Murray sometime to show you his pictures. His sense of awe will inspire you!).

At low tide, we ventured miles out onto the ocean’s floor, now exposed and scattered with treasures. Seashells, seaweed, and most curiously, sand dollars.

Spiritual Lessons from Sand Dollars

If you have ever held a sand dollar, you know its allure. When alive, these remarkable creatures are covered with velvety spines that help them move, eat and survive. In death, they transform—turning from purple to bleached white as the sun bakes them, leaving behind delicate, skeletal shells adorned with intricate five-petaled floral patterns. Scientists may explain these patterns as a functional marvel of evolution, allowing the sand dollar to balance and resist the tides. Engineers might marvel at their structural elegance.

But you do not need to be a scientist, or a rabbi, to feel a sense of awe when holding one. You simply need to open your eyes and let your soul awaken to wonder.

In the Psalms, we read, “The whole earth is filled with God’s glory” (Psalm 24:1). The Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism, famously taught that God’s presence infuses every aspect of creation, but we humans often obscure it. He lamented, “The whole earth is filled with God’s magnificence, but we take our little hands and cover our eyes.”

As a rabbi, much of my time is relegated to helping humans remove their “little hands from before their eyes,” to see the holy up top the hills or down on a seashore during sunset. When the sky turns from blue to pink and purple and finally to that awe-inspiring orange, I imagine the Holy One holding a paintbrush, waving it in our faces, urging us to look up from our iPhones. To open our eyes wide and really see the beauty that surrounds us.

Cultivating Awareness of the Holy in Daily Life

The Holy One, ever patient, whispers to us through creation’s quieter miracles. Like through the creation of a sand dollar, that mystical mashup of the mechanical and the magnificent. The sand dollar calls us to pause and ponder, redirecting our attention from the trivial to the transcendent. Its shell, so fragile that a small drop will shatter it, reminds us of the fragility of our connection to holiness. Similarly, our awareness of the Holy One is so fragile that an iPhone disrupts it.

At home, Michelle and I keep some sand dollars on the credenza near the door. Most days, they are merely decorations. On good days, they spark memories of Vancouver Island. Moments of laughter, peace and beauty. And on great days, those sand dollars transport me beyond memory into awe, reigniting my awareness of the intricate design of the universe and the Holy One who crafted it.

The Mezuzah: A Daily Reminder of the Divine

Judaism offers us other tools to cultivate this awareness. Consider the mezuzah, a small scroll affixed to the doorposts of Jewish homes. Each time we pass by, we pause, kiss our fingers, and touch the mezuzah. It is a simple but profound act. It reminds us that the space we are entering or leaving is holy, that the Divine Presence dwells within and around us.

Rediscovering God in Our Midst

What if we approached life with that same intentionality? What if we placed a sand dollar or any symbol of wonder on our desk, our nightstand or by the door, not as a decoration but as a reminder to pause and notice the sacred. Perhaps then, Jacob’s declaration then echoes through us, that “God was in this place, and I did not know it.”

So, touch that mezuzah; notice that sand dollar by your door. And as you step out into the world, keep your eyes open. Whether to a sunset, a bird in flight or the simple kindness of a stranger.

Because surely God is in this place. And maybe, until now, you did not notice.