Ebb and Flow

I want to thank you all for your support during what I know will be a difficult time.  I always remind myself that there are those out there who are struggling with worse things than I am.  It doesn't mean that my struggle isn't real, but helps me put it into perspective. 

 

It's funny how love, friendships, and even life comes at you like the waves on a beach.  The ebb and flow of experience, people, and struggle define our lives like the waves define the beach.  Some waves are big, some small.  Some are angry, some gentle.  We can't stop them from coming or going back out.  We can't control the tide any more than the beach can.

 

I love watching my children play at the beach...one time last summer stands out in my mind.  My oldest two ran immediately to the water, splashing about, chasing the waves and running from them.  My daughter stood just beyond where the edge of the waves met the sand and stared...awed, apprehensive, and I think a bit jealous of her brothers' ability not to fear the waves.  I sat nearby and watched as she allowed first her finger, then she ventured a toe into just the very edge of the waves.  Then the water from a larger wave reached past her "safe" area and because she was staring at the water as it moved past her feet and back again she got dizzy, and fell over.  Boy, did that make her mad and scared...she popped up and back to the safe zone with amazing speed.  Her brothers noticed her then, hanging out on the edge and beckoned her to join them. 

She looked down at her feet at the edge of that water. She looked at them calling to her and to me sitting nearby.  You could almost see the struggle that she was fighting inside herself.  I smiled and watched and waited.  She finally took a little breath, girded herself for battle, put her little two year old back up and put one foot and then the other into that water. Then she bounded into the waves.  She splashed, laughed, and began to chase and run after the waves with her brothers.  She quickly learned that she couldn't stare at her feet or she would get dizzy.  She would look to her brothers, or at me lounging on the sand, or at the horizon to get her bearings.  She didn't mind the ebb and flow of the waves then.  She wasn't alone...the ebb and flow was still ever present, but as long as she didn't stare at it, she didn't get dizzy.

 

I am not suggesting that we don't live in the now...in fact, quite the opposite.  I am not suggesting that we ignore the ebb and flow, although that would be impossible anyway.  We should live in the now and prepare for the waves, but not dwell on them. We should look to those we love as we experience the ebb and flow of life and not focus so much on the ebb and flow itself.  Thanks for helping me shift my focus. 

Sometimes inspiration comes in little packages.

If she can step out into the waves and have fun doing it...so can I!