Friday, April 10, 2015

Destination Ahead? (A Metaphor)

     The storm had come in a torrent of rain and thunder. Out of nowhere it seemed a wave of despair crushed the little vessel floating on the Sea of Circumstances. The Dreamboat is was called, and not because it was a romantic cruise vessel filled with confident passengers, but because it held one passenger full of lofty dreams but insecure of how to reach them. The craft was small and not worth taking much notice of. It was plain to the untrained eye,

but to the Maker it was wondrously made.
   
    The passenger had no idea that an eminent storm was rising. Of course, she knew that the voyage wouldn't be easy. Was there ever a time when it was? However, she would have never guessed how the Sea would change her course.
   
     When the storm rushed upon her, she met it with utter defiance, laughing at the wind as if it wasn't a real threat. She smiled through rain thinking that if she could forget that it was stinging her in the face it wouldn't really be there. There was so much to occupy her on the boat. The sails needed to be tied down and the windows barred. While she focused intently on those tasks she could almost forget that there was a hurricane raging around her.

     But when it ended, and the bluntness of it blew away, she found herself in uncharted waters. It was still, but not peaceful. The current,which she had been sailing patiently on, was gone. It was taken away. Panic and unrest filled the little passenger's soul. She had been so sure of her destination that she had not taken a compass along with her. The current had been so strong that she did not doubt her course.

Where would she go now?
   
     She screamed in frustration! Tears of confusion and fear fell down her checks. She was a usually calm person, never showing her emotions blatantly, but now she couldn't contain it inside. However, to her the outward display of feelings did not help, because there didn't seem to be any wind to carry it.

Her sails were empty. Her soul was lost.
   
     Days passed and still no wind blew. Aimlessly, she wandered around the deck trying to accept the fact that she might be stuck in one place for the foreseeable future. She knew that if the Wind did not come than she was supposed to stay put where she was. Still, she knew that was not where she needed to be. She was supposed to sail. She was supposed to feel the wind whip her hair and feel the current rush her along. There was a destination waiting for her.
   
    The Wind crept up gently. First, it was just a single blow, too faint to feel, like a wandering thought that pricks your mind. She could barely feel it, but nonetheless she tilted her sails to catch it if it came again. It was that little step of faith that changed her direction. Second, it blew again, longer this time, as if to encourage her that she did the right thing. The vessel turned, not in the direction she was hoping for, but it was a direction nonetheless. A direction was all she really wanted.
   
     Finally, it caught her sails and blew with such enthusiasm that she was caught off guard. She dropped to her knees, which was the position that she should have been all along, and held on tightly. Was this the direction she was supposed to go? It wasn't the way she thought. She trusted the Wind and knew deep down inside that no matter where it took her it was for the best.
 
    Before she knew it, she saw the island. It was too far away to grasp but it was still there. Although excitement filled her, she kept pushing it away, not wanting to believe it until she could touch the sand with her fingers.

    So she prayed and waited to see where the Wind would take her next....

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