The Tide Will Turn

"When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you,

 till it seems you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, 

for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.

-Harriet Beecher Stow

The words, "the tide will turn," offer us a sense of hope and encouragement.  We can become so swamped in emotion, there is no hope of ever surfacing to breathe fresh life back into our drowning circumstances.  Eventually, however, our cramping fingers begin to release their grip, and our feet are almost touching the safety of the ground.

Years ago, while reading a book about Jesus the Christ, the author simply stated, "It took three days for Jesus to rise from the dead."  For whatever reason, those words remained with me.  When I feel like I am in an impossible situation, I allow three days to resolve my situation.  In doing this, I allow myself to discover better decisions or more educated guesses.  The element of time helps me to stand grounded, recalling  previous experiences with the knowledge I had succeeded, one way or another.

It is when we feel as though we are being swept away, the questions of survival shifts our thinking to worse case scenarios.  When we mentally place fear into a time out chair, and breathe deeply for clarity, our resilience appears.  We have time to recapture our strengths, our skills, and our ability to problem solve.

Granted, some times there is no resolution except acceptance.  We may not have the ability to rectify what has been orchestrated by others, leaving us to mourn in our own way.  What seems unbearable gradually integrates into small sorrows we feel more capable in handling.  We may never forget nor understand, but eventually, 'the tide will turn'.