Great sailors

A good friend of mine said to me last weekend, "Mike, great sailors are not made by staying in the harbor. Great sailors are made by sailing the seas."

True. One of my fears in life is drowning or being caught in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight. One of my favorite Magnum P.I. shows from the 80s was when Tom Selleck's character was kayaking on the ocean by himself and he tipped over. He got caught alone in the ocean, boat gone, and was forced to tread water for hours on end until he was rescued. I remember watching with fear and amazement...both never wanting that to be me and rooting this fictional character on to survive the ordeal. When I think about my ancestors who ventured in the 19th century away from their safe lives in England to come to America, I am amazed. They spent weeks on the high seas sailing across the Atlantic for weeks. It was a perilous and exciting journey. A new life awaited them, but they had to get across the sea...sickness, storms, and the doldrums were all were present realities to make their crossing difficult. I just can't imagine being on the seas, for weeks on end, with no land in sight. Water, water everywhere...and what a thrill it would have been to see land on the horizon.

Is this true for me, for us in our lives? Don't we shove off in life from our old ways, our old ideas, our old life...setting sail for a new life? That we must experience the difficult transition too between old and new? But it is precisely that transition that makes the new life taste even sweeter?

Thanks for reading