“Be watchful. Be alert.”
Recently, I had the opportunity to take a walk
along the cliff walk between Capitola and a place called Pleasure Point.
It is a fairly well known area for surfers.
As I walked along I was fascinated since it was pretty cold
that there were all these people in their body suits out on the water.
And it was a low tide so there was not a lot of movement in the ocean.
It was just sort of like these little baby waves;
every now and then a wave might come and give a little push.
But I was fascinated that all these surfers
were out on the boards just floating, floating and that was it.
There were no waves to take them anywhere.
I walked up the whole cliff walk and then came back.
I stopped and I looked on wondering if any of them were going to surf?
How long are they going to wait?
I couldn’t take it so I asked someone sitting there.
He was clearly enjoying just watching all the bodies floating on the ocean.
I said, “So how long will they wait?”
And he, kind of looks at me as if I had asked something heretical.
Even through the face mask, you could see he was smiling
and he says, “Man! As long as it takes man!
They are going to wait for as long as it takes.”
And I said, “But how long will that be?”
“Hey man! It’s water. It’s beautiful.
Nobody cares how long it takes.
Look at how beautiful the water is.
It is always the motion of the ocean dude! C’mon.”
Really! I have to be honest with you, I just didn’t get it.
But as I walked away I picked another bench.
I thought, “ I’ll sit and see how long.”
I was sitting there waiting and I was antsy.
I’m thinking like, “Really? C’mon.
Are there any waves? C’mon. C’mon. Anyone going to surf?”
Anyway, no waves came and I got up somewhat frustrated
because well, I wasn’t really enjoying the experience of the water
because I am not a surfer so I haven’t been on the water in that way.
But you could see everyone else who was coming here to watch
was actually enjoying even watching them float on the water
as they waited for the wave no matter how long,
no matter how long it took.
As we enter into Advent, it is a time of waiting.
I suppose to those who are secular, who are not religious,
they look at us much the way I looked at these surfers.
Confused. Like what are they waiting for?
Christmas is going to come on the 25th every year so what?
What’s the big deal?
And they might get like I was with the surfers,
they might get impatient and say, “Look, c’mon, c’mon. Let’s go. Let’s go.”
I think like I wanted to say to the surfer “Bring on the waves.”
He says you cannot bring on the waves.
He says the ocean has its own time.
And the waves will come and you have to appreciate
that wave when it comes.
But in the interim, you have to understand
that the motion of the ocean is where the grace really is.
In Advent, our time is one of waiting
but it is also the motion of the ocean of life if you would;
and that in this time we are meant to enjoy the God
who is present already with us.
If you would, the ocean, the water is always with us.
What does that actually mean?
That is all great. Be watchful.
Be alert for the wave that comes to us.
And we hope that wave is not a surge of coronavirus
but we want it to diminish that.
I guess in this time of coronavirus,
it is becoming difficult for us.
It seems that is all we are doing is waiting.
Waiting for something to finish.
Or waiting for the vaccination.
It is almost like we are done waiting.
Let’s get back to normal life.
And we will at some point in the future, God willing.
But in the interim as people of faith, we are meant to,
like the surfers, sort of enjoy the waiting;
to really take in the motion of the ocean.
And for us that means that God is present in us in our lives already.
We do not have to wait for the big wave to come.
So what does that look like for us?
In this time of now-increased shelter in place,
look at the little graces that come our way.
The extra time with family and maybe the extra time at home.
You may not always see that as a gift
but maybe we can start a new book.
Maybe we can start some prayer life.
Maybe we can start some new rituals of loving our spouse
or our family members in a new and gentler way.
Maybe it is a time that we reach out via zoom or FaceTime
or any of the other and multitude of ways
that we can reach out by videophone to friends and family members
who we never had the time to connect with.
Or maybe we could just take a walk in the neighborhood;
or go for a walk in the wilderness.
Maybe it is time to go for a surf in the ocean.
It is to take this time to slow down and
take a leaf from the surfer’s way of life
and to enjoy the grace of the moment;
and enjoy the peace that comes.
At the end of my walk, I stopped again and I sat on another bench.
I watched the surfers.
I started to recognize that as I was watching the surfers
that I became more relaxed;
that I had no need to get up and finish my walk;
that I realized there is a grace and there is a peace to that ocean;
and it is beautiful.
I am wondering if we could take a step out of our routines
to spend some time and be watchful for the Lord;
be alert; be attentive to our God who is already in our life;
to good health; good family; good friends and
the time to acknowledge it; to spend with it.
In the motion of the ocean be watchful; be alert.
