Sometimes you keep navigating your boat but wonder if you’re really just going in circles.
The ocean is endless and it can beat you down. Sometimes there is nothing but the sun and the silence of the tranquil sea. Sometimes the storms thrash you into submission.
The toughest part is wondering where to steer toward. Waiting for wind in your patched-up sails. Wondering and praying to see dry land.
You feel like a pirate looking for buried treasure. Yet sometimes there are no boats to plunder. Sometimes there are no islands to match your treasure maps.
Sometimes it’s just you and the infinite whispering doubts and fears and frustrations.
Yet always, always, it seems you come upon a glorious treasure. It's not because you're such a good seaman, or because you’re as stubborn as an old sailor at looking for it. It's not because of anything you do, if you are to be honest.
It's what God allows to happen. You're in the boat at the right place and right time.
Time and time again this happens. Yet time and time again, you find yourself back out on those stormy waters, fearing for your life. Or you find yourself in the open silence of the dead sea, wondering how you’ll go on.
One of these days, you might learn what so many have learned before you.
These journeys and this grand voyage is not about getting out of the boat to find the hidden treasure. It's not about staying down below to ride out the next storm. The treasure is staying on board and staying in these waters and THEN finding the next hidden gem or nugget of gold.
They always come.
Labels: fears, journey, Perseverance, the writing life, why write
