Whoever joined together
the word smooth with the word sailing?
My ideal sailing adventure—my smooth sailing—would be on a
warm, clear and calm ocean…with land always in sight. Warm water says jump
in…all-in. I love to flop around in warm water. As a young girl, I secretly
wanted to be one of those underwater mermaids at Florida’s Weeki Wachee tourist
attraction. Yet I am as much mermaid material as I am a smooth sailor.
For me, clarity while smooth sailing means vision in all
directions...with no unexpected encounters. Similarly, underwater clarity means
I can avoid creepy creatures above, below and beyond…no surprises. Calm waters
invite peace and steadiness without threat of upheaval. However, with sailing,
the more squally, the better the adventure. It would seem that my ideal smooth
sail is as unrealistic as my mermaid-like, no surprises, risk-avoidant self.
I am a sailor…by marriage only. Though my heart is
captivated by the captain, my soul would rather be on land. Curious how often I
find myself in conflicting, unpredictable, tumultuous, unfathomable waters.
Stretching beyond my comfort zone is an understatement when I have one foot on
a moving boat and the other foot on the dock.
Even ashore, the ocean’s disturbing motion lingers long
after a sail. I walk unsteadily along the beach avoiding more waves, spray,
rocks and other impediments in my path. The unending, obstacle-strewn beach
stretches ahead of me like my word for the year, pursue.
My word, pursue, challenges me to consider
how to respond in sailing and in life when rough waters are present. Pursue
does not avoid, nor minimize, nor unwillingly tolerate, nor precariously
straddle the gulf between all-in and all-out. Pursue weighs the options, decides and then moves onward. Powerful
waves surge onto shore…all-in. The retreating water washes back out into the
ocean…all-out.
All my previous words for the year have contributed to
this time and space where pursue now requests something more of me. My words,
like waypoints in sailing, mark progress points made as well as setting the
course ahead. Pursue beckons me
onward, keeping me on course for this
year.
I glance back over my shoulder and notice the waypoints I
have passed. At embolden, I asked for God’s help. Our grandson’s
three-year old voice whispers through the wind. Jack comforted his howling
little brother resisting his car seat and sleep, “It’s okay, Lukey, God will
take care of you.” Jack’s simple faith contrasts to Granna’s cautious faith…I
keep walking.
Release is where I stumbled over an old
pattern of avoiding risk. Radical was the illusive waypoint that
renounced all or nothing thinking. Willing
acknowledged being on the right path. Just past open, I began noticing
little treasures along the way…discarded, broken, insignificant bits of sea
glass. A friend’s blog title pleasantly brings me back to the moment at hand as
I ‘Gather the Fragments’. The sun
is high in the sky; I pursue noticing and collecting the little
treasures of fragments, words and insights along the way.
Back at home, I add my journey’s bounty to a container with
previous discoveries. As my collection grows bit by bit, so does my gratitude,
and my perspective…along with extra fragments of faith. My new, bigger,
transparent vase is already half-full. This larger container holds all my
assorted pieces together in one place, at one time…all-in.