Riding the Waves

 I got a call from a friend early Saturday morning.

 

I had written her an e-mail the night before sharing some thoughts on a documentary she had recommended.

 

I thought she was calling in response to my e-mail.

 

Instead, she was calling to share some news.

 

Her husband is dying of cancer and her son needs a kidney transplant.

 

She’s known about her husband since the beginning of October. She found out about her son last month.

 

She has friends walking the journey with her, and she has a therapist helping her along the way.

 

But she wanted me to know so that I could bear witness to the grief and keep her and her family in my prayers.

 

As we talked, she admitted that the next few months were going to be hard and that the outcome was uncertain.

 

She said that there was no use in pretending that there wouldn’t be shitty days.

 

“Some days are going to overwhelm me,” she said, “but I’m going to do my best to ride the waves instead of trying to fight them. If I try to stand up to them with boxing gloves, then they’re going to overtake me and pull me under. But if I ride them, then at least I’ll be prepared for the movement, even when I don’t know exactly where it’s going to take me.”

 

She also said, “I think of life right now as a mountain that’s too big to climb. I can’t see the top. But I prepare as best as I can with ropes and water and proper climbing gear. And then I begin climbing, step by step. Sometimes I land on a ledge with a rattle snake ready to strike. Sometimes I land on a ledge with water. Sometimes I land on a ledge that’s open for rest. And then I rest because I can. Then I start moving again, one step at a time. And, somehow, I climb the mountain. Somehow, I get through it.”

 

Friends: Many of you are climbing mountains too big to climb. Many of you are standing in the waves, trying to decide whether to fight or ride them. Today, may you be encouraged to keep climbing, one step at a time, and lean into the pain even when it seems unbearable. May you be encouraged to ride the waves instead of fighting them, and may you embrace the knowledge that even when you don’t know where you’re going, you will get through.

 

Oh God: May you be strength when our strength fails. And may you be with us as we climb mountains and face storms. Grant love, light, and courage today and all days. Amen.