One cozy Fall day, I was snuggled in, watching “Persuasion,” a Jane Austen novel set to film. I was struck by a line in the movie that a young woman says to a young man. It goes something like this, “I’d rather be tossed in a ditch by the man I love than to go steadily along without him.” (Caveat: “tossed in a ditch,” was not referring to abuse, but rather living a thrillingly adventurous life alongside her husband.) It made me think of my own adventures with God.
It’s way too easy for us to imagine that we will know what to do and how to react in the moments we are called to follow onto the waves. It all seems so straightforward from the sidelines. But it is in the stepping out that we find out what is really lurking inside our hearts and minds.