Waves of Life...Finish Line! (Part 1)
I just finished my third year in open lake swimming. I have to admit it has taken that long for me to finally get used to the choppy waves that appear out of nowhere.
I can now drive up to a lake without the waves being the first thing that I notice and then anticipate with dread before embarking on a 1.2-mile swim. If the water is calm – fantastic, if the water is choppy – fantastic. Because I know the choppy waters will not last forever, but are only temporary.
I have learned that with open lake swimming nothing is predictable. For instance, when we enjoy the wave pool at a waterpark, the waves are predictable because they are engineered on a timer. After a certain period of time, we anticipate the wave pool will cease and go back to normal – the regular calmness of a pool. However, the choppy waves in a lake are never on a timer dictated by another human being but are rather controlled by the creator – our Heavenly Father. He dictates when the waves begin and when they end. As swimmers, we have to master the art of breathing, stroking, and kicking to get through a series of choppy waves. It is never any fun, because it is pure agony. It is exhausting. We travel less because our energy is being used just to keep afloat and not sink. What gets us through it is having our thinking in the correct mindset that the choppiness of these waves will come to an end. We just need to hang in there until the waters return back to calm.
After my world turned upside down in 2012, I never knew that the choppy waves of life would ever come to an end. It nearly wiped me out.
The pure exhaustion of keeping afloat for 7 very long years was tiring, but the choppy waves of life ceased in 2019. The waters returned back to normal. I never heard anyone speak of a finish line existing, especially one of public shaming. I am here to tell you that your finish line does exist. Our trials do have a timetable. They are temporary, never permanent. When we reach that finish line, it is utterly amazing because we then start to see what an amazing new life that we are beginning, we just have to learn how to live it!
It begins with learning more about our Creator, who calms the choppy waves in our lives.