I just heard from my cousin who is in Hawaii on vacation right now. I got to go there last year with her and it was amazing!! We went boogie boarding, which was great. But I got pretty beat up. Just didn't quite get the timing right. Timing, evidently, is important in boogie boarding. When I got back to Liberia, I went to the beach with some friends. The waves were bigger than I remembered them being last year when I was here. I didn't have a boogie board, but thought body surfing sounded like a good idea. Once again, I got pummeled.
After one particularly big wave knocked my feet right out from under me and sucked me under in a crazy swirling pull, I found myself flailing rather wildly... When my head finally came up from the depths I took in a big gasping breath. OK, and I was still flailing. When suddenly my hand hit something. It was sand. Oh. It was sand. I paddled to get my feet underneath me and I stood up. I was in about three feet of water.
So I can't get the picture out of my mind. Because in the end, I felt quite ridiculous. Here I was flailing, and gasping, and all I had to do... was stand up. And what I feel like is more amazing is that I could relate this to my life. I got hit by a wave. Or two. And got my feet knocked out from under me. And I have been flailing and gasping... for about six years.
And recently when I felt the swell of another wave, I perceived a still small voice.
It whispered, "Child, stand up."
And I did.
And found beneath my feet, not sand. But a Rock.
And the waves suddenly did not hold the same power that they had just moments before.
It felt good to stand.
