Life is like the ocean. Sometimes it is calm and peaceful, and
sometimes it is a raging storm. Even during the peaceful times, there
are waves and currents. The tides roll in, the tides roll out, day
after day, without fail. The ocean is always teaming with life and
activity. It is never still. It is always changing. Life is exactly
like this.
If you attempt to sit still in the ocean,
you are carried one way or another by waves and currents. It takes some
action on your part to direct your path, or to even stay in one place.
You have to swim, tread water, kick, paddle, drop an anchor, do
something, or you are going to be moved. If you pause, for even a
moment, the current can move you great distances. The ocean is a
powerful force, even when peaceful.
Have you ever
stood at the beach and let the waves rush over you? Not ready to jump
right in to all the chaos, you timidly walk down to where water meets
sand and inch your way in. As you stand there enjoying the cool flood
over your hot feet, WHAM! a huge wave comes and knocks you on your
butt. As you try to stand, the sand under you rushes away, pulled back
into the water with the receding wave, you lose your footing, and down
you go again. As you struggle, another wave comes along, and you are
rolled. That second wave doesn't need to be very big to knock you over,
since you haven't fully recovered from the first one. You are only
sort of standing, and very unsteady. As wave after wave continues to
hit, you tumble, and roll, struggle, and gasp. Eventually, you back up,
and retreat to higher ground, or dive on in and try to get all the sand
out of your pants.
Inching towards a big change in
life can be frightening. We approach with caution, and inch our way
in. Standing there, hesitating, we can get hit with a big wave, a
devastating set back, like a major illness, job loss, death of a loved
one, etc. Then when we are down, and still struggling to stand, even
the smallest waves can knock us back down, and keep us down, tumbling us
over and over, as we struggle to breathe and stand. Sometimes it seems
like those waves keep on coming, and that we are going to drown, that
the ocean will win, and drag us out to sea. We might even need a friend
to rescue us and pull us one way or another, out of the line of fire.
The
best way to go for a swim in the ocean, is to run and dive right on
in. Dive over the wave, into the wave, or under it. When you are
swimming, you cannot be knocked down. The wave loses its power when
you stop resisting, and go with the flow. What is a powerful force at
the shore, capable of knocking you flat, is a gentle rocking motion when
you are bobbing along in the middle of it. If you are swimming under
the surface, it feels like nothing at all. While standing, or treading
water, if a large wave approaches, and you aren't paying attention, you
can still get walloped good. A face full of salt water that leaves you
sputtering, but still upright. If you see it coming, all it takes is a
little hop just at the right moment, and you float along, with your head
safely above the surface. Resisting is what causes all the trouble.
In
life, it's just the same. It's the resistance to life's changes,and
challenges that bring all the destruction and pain. When we fight
against the inevitable, when we hesitate to take the next step, that's
when life really knocks us down. We have to pay attention, see what is
coming our way, and then jump on board, and ride the wave. When we
resist, we go under, we sputter, and gasp. Life is never going to be
like a reflection pool - still and perfectly clear. It keeps moving,
and changing. Every day we have new things come our way. Life
changes. If we don't figure out how to adapt and change with it, we
suffer, and life is harder than it needs to be.
Learning
to anticipate the waves, and jump into them, rather than resist, helps
smooth out the ride. If you see a future challenge coming, do what you
can to prepare for it, and when it hits - jump up to great it, rather
then try to out run it, you will float along with only a minor
disruption. You can't out run, or out swim, the waves of change that
life brings. Babies grow up, kids get married, people get sick, we have
to move, jobs are lost, cars break down, we grow old, and everyone of
us will eventually die. You can't avoid these normal life events. You
can prepare, you can be watchful, and you can embrace each new wave as
it comes your way. You can jump in and live life, rather than stand on
the shore and let the waves beat you down. You must keep moving, if you
wish to have any peace. There is no such thing as standing still.
The sun, the wind and the rain fall on me unfiltered by the world. I am closer to God, the source of it all. The light is pure, and my skin tingles with the warmth. The clouds float by and I could reach out and feel their cool dampness. The wind brings with it bird song, and the voice of Heaven. And when it rains, it is wonderful, the best. I am clean, my soul is refreshed. New energy lovingly bestowed from above.
