I have not gone sailing in the real sense of the word. My only experience is a ride in a small air-conditioned power boat. One hour in a closed-off boat is not sailing. Anyways, let's get down to the point of this. I have always wondered about anchors. These were considerably medium-sized metallic objects that could hold a ship or boat in a circumference. How did they work? How did you decide how heavy they had to be per boat or ship size? Did the different water bodies play a role in deciding which to use? And with all the different varieties, how did you pick which to install on your vessel? My curious nature had gotten the better of me, so I went on a hunt; a hunt to know for myself.
I looked up tons of websites and books. My head ached as I amassed so much information for a hydrophobic person. Every source had their own take on the subject. In the end, I guess it was left to the instinct of the captain or sailor.
In the midst of the varying waves of information, one thing remained constant. This one truth unified the very many sources. Everyone agreed on this. The anchor serves one major function: the anchor helps avoid drifting. A ship would wander and succumb to every wind and wave if there was no anchor.
Our sojourn through life can be likened to a boat’s path on the sea. There are easy waves and terribly dangerous ones. There are quiet nights and nights we rather forgot. There are still moments and turbulent torrents. Life is a series of waves thrown at us. The question is how we respond to these waves.
As I thought about our responses to life's many waves, my mind wandered to movie scenes of battered ships and boats that drifted defenselessly to the waves of a troubled sea. I thought about people who have landed in places and conditions as a result of circumstances they had succumbed to. Many of us are in tight places, not out of direct choices, but rather the result of reactionary drifting to the waves we are faced with.
Like a well-equipped ship, we must be armed with anchors. We must have structures that hold us up when every other thing is shifting and shaking. These structures—anchors, for the sake of this discussion—can be relationships, routines, commitments and accountability mechanism. Great or small, we all need stability in the midst of the storm.
Life will throw you into raging waves. It is at this point we must throw in our anchor and ensure we are not moved and shaken. When life gets tumultuous, don’t panic, just cast your anchor into the storm and ride the wave. In the morning, peace will come.
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