Blue

I'm glad the ocean's my element. It's about 70% of the planet. And understanding her is the work of a lifetime, and not dull work neither. How she moves, the winds and currents and tides, it's simply fascinating. I've been reading Heavy Weather Sailing by Coles and it's deepening my respect for the ocean, as well as my appreciation for weather charts and the amount of knowledge we have at our disposal. His accounts of rough passages are greatly insightful into how weather systems work, and general ocean movement.

There was a fantastic sunset this evening that filled everything, reflecting pinks, oranges and purples off of anything, grey silhouettes of seabirds transiting the sky, the flash of the lighthouse and the sad moan of the mile buoy in the distance. The intensity of it overwhelmed me as I stood in what was perhaps a subconscious state. It didn't matter if I were happy or sad, heartbroken or hopeful, tired or fresh. There was only the Sunset, and the Ocean. Lines from a song floated in front of me,

Mother, mother Ocean

I have heard you call

I've wanted to sail upon your waters

Since I was three feet tall

You've seen it all

You've seen it all...

I don't know why I'm so interconnected with the ocean, but I'm thankful for it. There's a mysterious aspect to her that I don't understand, but perhaps one isn't supposed to. Perhaps it's the force that produces the allure that makes us want to know her and sail her. But she's home, and when things are bad, she can always swallow my problems and drown my tears. And when things are good, she can send me forward towards the horizon believing in dreams.

The Fantasy of Security

The strange society we live in gives us preset notions of how life should be lived. Go to school, find a job or start a business, work most of your life, and then the last 20 years or so do what you wanted to in the first place, if you're at all able to. If you're religious, then perhaps 10% of your income goes to the church and maybe you'll go on a mission trip a few times. You work to build your "empire," but what all for? These days we work for security, we live for security, we give up freedom for security. Why?

I've come to the realization that there is no security in this world. We like to think there is, that we can rely on something for certain no matter what happens, but it just doesn't exist. Outside the salvation of the soul through Christ there is no certain thing. So why worry so? Why deceive ourselves with this fantasy that doesn't exist?

It's true if you don't take action nothing gets done, and there is a healthy amount of attentiveness that should be taken to assure yourself agreeable circumstances. But more than that, why do we struggle with the worries of the future and the downward spiraling course the earth is on? We are not promised tomorrow, only today. Today! Seize it, do something with it, make it your own. It is a gift.