Surfboard

Grief is like surfing. One beautiful day you are out enjoying life. Suddenly a storm blows through and you are swept into the ocean with nothing but someone else’s surfboard. There you are… you have no idea what to do with a surf board except hang onto the side so you don’t drown.

One day you actually figure out how to get up on the board…but still you just sit there because this is so foreign to you. Little by little; day by day you get up on the board and just try to stand for a longer period of time. Suddenly you see a wave coming at you and thinking that maybe you could just ride the wave in, so you sit and the waves carry you forward. Wave by wave, day by day, you surf closer to the shore. You decide to stand up and ride the wave like everybody else does. You fall off and are taken backwards a little. You work daily at riding the waves…..you fall off; you get back on; you fall off; you get back on. You ride some more for longer periods of time until one day you see the shore and know you are close to your “normal” life. As you step off the board, you can feel a sea shell and some sand under your feet. There is a smile and a sense of relief, but the undercurrent starts to tug your body back out to sea. You can still see the shoreline, but have to work to get back to where you were. After a struggle and some period of time, you are able to get off the board and walk to the shore without being swept back out, but it isn’t the same any more. Things have changed on the shoreline.

Grief is like surfing. You make it to shore at some point, but there is always the tide that will come in and sweep you away. And, you once again have to get back to shore. Sometimes the ride is quick; sometimes it takes a little longer. You just know that as long as you have the surfboard……you will get there!

May God be the surfboard that you ride upon. May He be the one who pulls you out of the undertow, and may He be the one that let’s you see the beauty of the sunrise from the beach that isn’t the same as before, but will become your new normal. And when the tide rolls in unexpectedly….He will cause a wave to carry your home again.