lean into the wind

We recently got satalite tv. Its an extravagance we never justified before now, but we figured we never go out, we spend a lot of time at home (especially me) so it was an expense that would be worth it. Since then we have watched a LOT of weirdness on tv..You cant imagine some of the pointless junk they put on television. You just cant look away.. its like a train wreck, you dont want to look, but you do.

The other day, when I should have been doing something constructive,I was watching a sailboat race of some kind. Some wierdo documentary about these guys who raced accross the Atlantic.Two teams were racing against eachother, and the time of another team who had completed the race another time for a world record. Things went well until there was a storm. A really really big bad one.

So you have team one and team two. Team one is floudering, so is team two. Seems like things are not going to turn out well for either team. They are bickering and fighting amoungst eachother and cant seem to get together on how to fight the storm and still make headway.Both teams head for safe harbor, drop anchor and batten down to ride out the storm stationary.Team one burries themselves in thier bunks and goes to sleep. Crying over thier loses and bitter over the circumstance.

Then team two makes a decision, They lean into the wind. The storm isnt blowing in the direction that they need to go, and they will surely lose time on the world record, and likely team one. The wind isnt sending them in the direction they THINK they need to go. But the yeild to the wind and follow it. They are flying at an AMAZING breakneck speed..wild and unsure but trusting in the strength of thier mast and in a direction they did not plan. They assume the race lost and resolve to just survive the storm.

Eventually they outrun the storm. They harness the wind of the hurricane to blow them ahead of it. Out of harms way they make thier way to the finish line. They are whole and unbroken revived by the new wind. They win the race beating the world record by hours and team one by 12 hours.. the 12 hours that they leaned into the storm. Team one finished... barely... broken, bitter, and battered by the storm.

The documentary struck me as ironic. How much are we like the sailboats? How often, when storms blow do we feel like dropping anchor and going to bed? What if we leaned into the wind? What if we allowed our storms to blow us in directions we didnt plan for? It might seem like the hurricane might sink us, and that we'd rather stay in safe harbor and venture out when things look safe. But what if we trusted the strength of the mast??

Lately it has seemed like my storm might break the ship apart. One storm after the other rocking my boat. "Such is life" they say.. Its all storms and trials.. but I guess its more how you weather them. How you deal with the problem that makes your life easier or harder.I was never promised calm seas. I wasnt even promised favorable winds. But what I was promised was that if I trusted the strength of the mast? Id make it to the end of the race in one piece.. possibly broken, possibly battered. But comepletely whole.