Wearing a mask is uncomfortable, inconvenient, and difficult. It can also be a form of sacrifice, a way of "offering up" to God.

As I walk, I mimic the cry of the gulls, the hasty pace of the sanderlings, the egrets’ mincing walk, the crabs’ sideways crawl. I find joy in the obvious diversity. I crane my neck to see pelicans glide with prehistoric grace across the tops of the waves.

Especially in times of stress and even those stretches of chaos, through lean times and during periods of dread, I and those around me have benefitted by my practice of inner prayer.