The motto by which I live my life isn’t one of our saints’ famous dictums, nor is it the prophetic wisdom of a philosopher. Nope, it’s pretty simple actually…

You can’t stop the waves…
         …but you can learn to surf.

I love it. I have no idea where I picked this up but it has consistently guided me through good times and bad. However, I’ve always felt bad that this phrase seems distinctly secular, as a Christian I’m supposed to live a Christ-centred life yet this quote doesn’t even mention God. These past few months have shown me that this assumption was wrong -- Christ has always been at the heart of my life. I want to share my experiences with the online community, it’d be lovely if this helped someone when they’re braving a storm.

Free will

In philosophy I’ve looked at the problem of free will from many angles and there still doesn’t seem to be an answer. Adding God to the equation makes things more difficult; if God is omniscient then how can we have free will? Surely He knows the choices we’re going to make before we make them. If this is so then there’s little point in judgment, it wasn’t our fault that we sinned!

My phrase fits nicely here, think of God as the wave-maker. He makes those huge crashing tidal waves that can seem to destroy everything as well as the gentle splashy ones, the waves never cease and nor does God – he’s always there in our lives. But, you’re not stranded because you can surf. God doesn’t leave us to tread water or get swept away with the current, we have our surfboard and we have a degree of control. We can choose to ‘steer’ (I don’t know the technical surfing term) our surfboard left or right, or perhaps we’ll decide stand up on your board rather than lying down. You can’t choose the situations that affect you but you can choose how you face them.

Your surfboard

I said earlier that God doesn’t leave us stranded because he gives us a surfboard, so you’re probably wondering what this surfboard is? It’s the Eucharist. This became quite real for me recently, things have been pretty tough on both sides of my family and I’ve recently moved to a new university so I’m away from the people I care about. In my first week here I really was not happy, but when I attended mass on Sunday and received the Eucharist everything was better. I was moved almost to tears; it felt like I was getting a big hug from my oldest and dearest friend. I was reminded that despite being overwhelmed by my first week, my head was still above the water and I still had the real presence of Christ in my life. No matter what situation I’m presented with, I’ll have the Eucharist as my surfboard – a constant source of love and closeness to God. My faith in Christ is my base and guides me through rough and calm waters.

It’s a nice image that keeps me going – I hope it can keep you going too. :)

Labels: eucharist