it comes in waves

This season of life, when I'm fighting the swells, I recall a walk I took in my childhood along a jetty that juts out into Lake Michigan.  I don't remember the exact circumstances, it was so long ago.  The waves were high, and a gentleman warned about the "Three Sisters" phenomenon.  I must have been too close to the edge--there was no railing--and he didn't want me to be pulled in.  Waves slapped the concrete pier in threes, each crest a little higher and a little stronger than the one before.  Occasionally one would wash completely over the path.  On a grander scale they would have overwhelmed a ship.

There are also the words below, ones I read first in December of 2010.  O! for a convenient, well-equipped harbor!  But think how resilient that swim to shore made those who did it.  Aiming for resilience.

I still haven't finished The Arena.  Some day.

 

God desires and seeks the salvation of all. And He is always saving all who wish to be saved from drowning in the sea of life and sin. But He does not always save in a boat or in a convenient, well-equipped harbour. He promised to save the Holy Apostle Paul and all his fellow-travellers, and He did save them. But the Apostle and his fellow-passengers were not saved in the ship, which was wrecked; they were saved with great difficulty, some by swimming and others on boards and various bits of the ship's wreckage.

-- The Arena, by Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov)