Finding Peace Through Rough Waters

Life isn't always smooth sailing. Many times, all you can do is row. Life exempts no one.

I’ve had my boat rocked to its core and capsized so many times yet I never got used to all the rocking. It can be anything but boring. (I assure you.) But soon I learned that to survive, you got to rock with the boat until it sails on quieter waters.

Every time I find myself knocked flat on my face for the countless times when fate is so unkind—pulling the rug from under my feet, leaving me sprawling helplessly on the ground—i pull myself up over and over again. And I trudge on brushing the dust off my now calloused knees.

We'll all have our fair share of troubles. Some of us can get easily overwhelmed; some panic at the slightest tilt of the boat, or the mere sight of the crashing waves. Struggling with his own share of rough waters, Dr. M. Scott Peck on one of his bestsellers, The Road Less Traveled, wrote:

Once we truly know that life is difficult—once we truly understand and accept it—then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.

Sometimes, all it takes is to look at our present circumstances from a different perspective. To learn that it's not despite of, but because of the times we've been through rough waters, we're now better, and able to handle the worst times yet to come.  That's how we find peace.

“I can't control the wind but I can adjust the sail.” ― Ricky Skaggs