"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen."
Hebrews 11:1
A mere half hour prior, she walked the shoreline, listening to the awakening beach. A quiet gray hugged the air and sky like a soft well-worn sweatshirt. On the horizon a tiny lone fisherman bobbed in his boat. She smiled. As she walked, she paused and stooped to erect each stray feather in her path, planting a few in mounds of sand castle ruins. Along the way, she swayed in the arms of a whispering sea breeze calling her to dance. She waded ankle deep in the sea foam, but no further.
She stopped to watch a youngster jump the waves and remarked to his mother, "I wish I was that brave." His mother smiled a reply, "Don't we all?" That admonition disturbed her and began to poke her comfort zone. She waded in a tad deeper and began to reason with herself as to why she would not go any deeper. For instance, regardless of onlookers, she was alone on her walk, as she had left her sleeping daughter and grandchild up in the hotel room, promising not to venture too far on her stroll, as she was not taking her cell phone either. She argued with therself that reckless was a far cry from carefree. Then, venturing in knee deep in the churly waters, she argued that standing in foaming waters unable to see the ocean floor, was more than acceptable to facing her fears.
Upon her return, she made a deal with herself that she would go all the way in when she got a little closer to the group of off duty soldiers frolicking. However, they dispersed before she arrived. She issued a final decree that she had indeed gone far enough and faced her fears and continued the rest of the way. Looking out to sea, she noticed a glowing sun behind the gray clouds and it shone just enough to lay a glistening arrow from her, like a beacon of where to go.
She walked a bit further, she admonishing herself for missing the opportunity. She looked again. And like a child long ago, when she realized the moon follows as we travel along the road, so does the sun and she had not missed the opportunity. On the contrary, the sun arrow still shone and shone brighter than before.
Without hesitation, she threw her shoes upon the sand and walked into the sea. She jumped the waves as they broke and just past the breakers, where the next wave swells, she fell back. Plunging into those shrouding waters but trusting the Hands which she knew somehow held her safely. She lay floating there in the rocking waters and breathed.
Sopping from head to toe, fully dressed and drenched, she made her way back to the seashore and stood above her shoes. She stood there grinning, not just smiling on the outside, but from the inside, somwhere deep down and within her soul. She had come. She had conquered. A trail of feathery flags marked her path.
