I don’t know about you, but I have always felt drawn to water. I find a lot of peace when sitting on a coast somewhere, or on the edge of a calm lake. The glasslike surface of still water pulls my gaze and I often find my mind drifting from on incomplete thought or emotion to another. The waters edge is one of those places where I feel like it is totally acceptable to just sit and be. But not all waters stay still. Storms will doubtless come and stir that crystal surface, and we often find that we cannot be sure just how hard the waves will hit.
Some waves brush gently at the sand, other come crashing in hard enough to wash away anything not firmly fixed to the ground. Constantly ebbing and flowing, continuously altering the shoreline from the beginning of time until time far beyond our reckoning. This year has has more hurricanes than most (literally and metaphorically). I have been dragged under more times than I care to admit. And then, one prayer and one grasping reach at a time, we drive toward the surface until we achieve a breakthrough. I cannot help but hope for a period of renewal. As with many disasters, after destruction comes a reminder of how fleeting these moments we call life. It’s hard to rebuild and restart after the shoreline is torn and tattered. But with help from others, or pure resilience and determination in ourselves, we strive to continue on and overcome.
Here is wishing all of you the strength to prevail over any waves crashing your way, and the peace to be able to sit safely near the shore once the storms have passed. Even the hardest of stone can be worn away by the passage of time and the tiniest trickle. And the smallest speck of sand can ride out a storm in a little nook on the cliff side. Strength is not always about coming out of the storm undamaged. Rather, it’s how you take the battles you’ve won and use them to prepare for future waves.
Sending love and support to anyone reading this who’s being battered by waves. Keep striving for the surface, my friends. It’s there waiting for you to breakthrough and see the sun.
Devine Perks 