waves

      Although a few days have lapsed due to family visits etc.  here is the next batch of Big Lake pictures, featuring Big Waves.   They are beautiful to look at, but I wouldn't want to be out on the water in a boat when they are like this.   I remember a day long ago when I was invited to join a family who were friends of our family for a boat ride when the waves were big.   It was not fun.   The smallish speedboat bounced around on the water in a jarring way,  and by the time we finally reached port,  I was tense and aching.   Never again!

       When it comes to hitting rough water in our lives,  when the winds of trouble start to blow, it feels a little like the boat ride I disliked.   We get bounced around, and often find ourselves off course and too far from the calm waters of peaceful harbor.   We find ourselves in for a rough ride, and out there in the middle of the big waves, there is nothing much to be done except endure and head for harbor.

       For me that harbor is meditation and prayer during time alone when I can focus on God and the gift of Christ's peace which passes understanding even while riding the rough waves.

I can recall the story when Jesus fell asleep in a boat with his disciples during a big storm.

When he was finally wakened by his alarmed disciples, he calmly rebuked the wind and waves and stilled the storm.   He can still do that in my heart and mind and life, if I ask and trust as the disciples did.  And He has---many times.

      Therefore, when I hit stormy weather and big waves,  I don't have to be alarmed about perishing.  As the old hymn my Mom sang puts it, "The wind and the waves shall obey His will: Peace!  Be Still."   The wind and the waves of my turbulent thoughts and feelings can be calmed when I let Him be in charge.   

      And I love the fact that the Lake teaches me that the roughest weather passes,  the waves calm down, the waters once again flows in quiet currents and gentle waves----just as in life.

Everything is temporary.  And one can always realize that the wind and waves of one's emotions and thoughts are not what one is.  They are simply disturbances on the surface of the water of life.  Deep down,  where it is always calm, we are always dwelling in the Peace of the Presence of God, if we but realize it.