Tomorrow night in Ocean Isle Beach, NC, the annual Christmas Flotilla will be held. I don't know what I love so much about that event but something about it captivates me. Perhaps it is simply seeing the beautiful lights or the creativity demonstrated by each entry. Maybe it has something to do with feeling the laughter and joy generated among families in reaction to the scenes communicated by each decorated boat. Or, maybe it is about trusting something deeper? Maybe it is testament to the moment between the American Thanksgiving Holiday and the Christian season of Advent. That moment seems to be the place where one can best examine the opportunities of the year past and imagine the possibilities of a year yet to be proffered.
The statement, likely inaccurately attributed to Thomas Edison, that "opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks a lot like work" seems to ring true. The word itself stems from the Latin "ob" meaning "in front of or toward" and "portus" meaning "harbor."
Not far from the port of Wilmington, NC, these boats remind me that ports are meant for loading and unloading. They are full of items going toward something and away from something else. They are undergirded by a lot of work. This past year, I celebrated my 50th birthday. I decided that I wanted my last 50 years to be the best ones yet. I set a goal to do yoga almost every day, to begin the effort of expanding my endurance through running, to delve more deeply into my own spiritual development, and to discern the viability of a couple of desires I've held for many years--relationally and professionally.
There is a saying: "Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it." Well, I got all of those things--heartbreak and failure included. But even in the heartbroken places of our lives, I realize that we are being invited into hard work . . . work that heals us, work that renews us, work that invites us toward the harbor where we have a choice. We can dock ourselves permanently--compromising on our heart's desires and never find life's next adventure (ergo the missed opportunities). Or, we can don the overalls, do the hard work of loading and unloading to discover something creative, joyful, and beautiful.
In order to do that we have to be able to see what it is we desire--a visual image of achieving it should take root in our minds' eyes. But, it is not enough to see it. We have to have a conviction that we can achieve it--an intuitive knowing that we were meant for it and it for us. We have to feel the emotion of it as if it is happening now or has already happened. Then, we have to realize that a power greater than ourselves can manifest it. We have to trust. The process and its details may not look anything like what we would want to imagine but we don't get to control the 'how.' It may be filled with heartache and failure. But, those seeming failures and that heartache may be precisely what we need to reach the harbor we intend or the harbor intended for us.
I have no idea what hard work or opportunities are on the harbor's horizon for you or for me. But, I do know that life without the risk and adventure of overalls is too safe of a harbor for me. The Hebrew scripture seems to offer the best admonition in a verse I have loved: "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it" (Isaiah 30: 21). May that voice lead us each to see, feel, and trust the opportunities of the year ahead. Amen.
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