This afternoon I went for a swim in the ocean. From the bluff we were standing on it didn’t look to bad. There were waves crashing on the shore as you would expect at the ocean but from where we stood it didn’t look that bad once you got out a ways.
Once I got down to the beach I could tell it was choppy but I was still confident that things would calm down once we got further away from shore. The plan was to swim out to some buoys about 1/2 mile off shore. I took off with the guys I was swimming with and encountered exactly what I thought I would, some rough waves. As I continued to swim I realized it wasn’t going to let up.
After swimming a few minutes I stopped to see where the buoys were. I couldn’t see them. In the bottom of the trough there was no sign of any bouys. I could no longer see my goal. At first I was a little nervous. How on earth was I going to get to my goal when I couldn’t see it? I was in the ocean and I couldn’t see where I was going.
As I rose and fell with the sea I realized that when I was on top of the wave I could catch a glimpse of the spot I was aiming for. I knew that if I kept swimming in the right direction and stopped to look for the buoys when I had a chance that I would eventually get there.
I did eventually reach my goal, a half mile out into the ocean. Once I got there I turned around and headed back to shore. It was rough going back too, but at least this time I could see the shore line. I was confident I was going to make it back.
When I got back to shore I realized I had just had an amazing learning experience. There are a lot of times when we seem to be getting tossed around in the ocean of life. Sometimes when the sea is choppy we panick and just try to keep our heads above water. Rather than to keep swimming toward our goal and truly fighting to stay afloat, we will sit and tread water until things calm down.
In this moment we have to trust our ability to swim. The waves may push us or pull us and make it seem like we are going in every direction but forward. This is the time that we need to press on. Keep swimming and look at where you are going when you have the chance. Even though we may not be able to see our destination at the bottom of the trough we have to be encouraged by the fact that once we get on top of the next wave we will be able to catch a glimpse of where we want to go.
Our daily swim in life may not always be in smooth water, but we need to be encouraged by the fact that we have the ability to push on and keep swimming even when it’s tough. When the water is rough, keep swimming!
The only way to reach our goals is to not give in when things get rough!
