Wait For the Tide

The ocean gifts the beach with all kinds of surprises to be discovered, like this tree covered with some kind of barnacle (marine experts, please weigh in)! Yes a TREE, about 3 feet tall. It looked like it was growing right out of the sand.

If these beautiful, purple barnacles had the capacity to reflect on their situation, I wonder what might be going through their minds? Here they were, clearly out of their element, exposed to new threats. And yet, they waited. They hung on. They didn’t jump off the tree and say “Hey, never mind you, Tree, I am marching back into the sea where I belong.” The barnacles were committed (stuck, really) to the tree and to each other, and so they stayed. They had no choice but to hope and trust that the tide would come again. That’s brave work.

Their stillness invites me to consider how I respond when I find myself in a temporary (though it might feel permanent in the moment) situation that is unexpected, possibly hostile, and unfamiliar.

Sure enough, the next time I was there, the tree with its lovely purple companions was gone, washed back into its watery world, somewhere in the deep.

…..

In these barnacles, I notice an invitation to surrender and to trust, to be brave in the waiting. And I am deeply thankful for those who wait with me - for the strength that comes knowing I am not alone in the process.

What helps you wait for the tide?