Meditation in Eastertide ~ Saturday, Week 7: Tacking and Jibing

May 18, 2024 ~ Saturday, Week 7

photo by Christina Brennan Lee in Broad Bay, NZ

She stood in the storm

and when the wind did not blow her way,

she adjusted her sails.

~ Elizabeth Edwards* 

    It's so easy and comfortably trite to say, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade." It's a kindly thought and there's a limited amount of folksy wisdom in it. 

    But, Lord of the Wind and Sea of Life, sometimes life hands out orchards of difficulty, grief, and anguish. Yet even in the midst of all of that, there are happy moments, satisfying times, and there is also bless-ed ordinary. 

    I don't try to compare my stuff with anyone else's. I recognize and empathize with the trials and tragedies of others and even when the events are seemingly mirrored, no one’s experience is ever the same as another’s. And while I'm certain that I'm entitled to my fair share of wails, whines, and whimpers it’s only for a time and not for a lifetime of self-indulgence. Life is precious and those who have gone before me would want me to use it well and with joy in memory and I can look for it in each day as it comes.

   And when it is time to move forward, please Lord, do not let me stall, becalmed by grief, procrastination, or inertia. Point me in the right direction, with the wind behind me, filling my sails on the current that leads to You; and, if I cannot sail through the rest of my life without more stormy seas or the occasional eddy throwing me off course, help me then to adjust my sails again, as I have done so many times before, tacking or jibing as needed to catch the right wind that carries me onward. amen. 

 

*Elizabeth Edwards [1949-2010], an American Attorney, Health Care Activist, and best-selling author was married to John Edwards, a US Senator with unsuccessful campaigns for US Vice-President and later President. Ms. Edwards dealt well publicly with her husband's rise to prominence and then his notoriety after his much publicized affair that resulted in an illegitimate child, when at the same time, Elizabeth was also coping with the breast cancer that ultimately ended her life. She was, at least publicly, the exemplar of grace under pressure.

PS: This will be the last of the daily Meditations that began this year on Ash Wednesday. There will be occasional postings in addition to the every-week liturgical Prayers of the People that I generally post on Monday evenings. Thank you all who have been reading regularly or if just once. You are my inspiration and you are most welcome in this space anytime! ✌💞

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