“We cannot control the wind, but we can adjust our sails!”
October 12, 2024
The other day, while cruising on New Hampshire’s Lake Sunapee, I snapped a picture of a wind surfer who came alongside our boat. His tricky maneuvers to adjust his sail as he battled the wind so he could spend more time on his board than in the lake, reminded me of a popular quote in the sailing world, “We cannot control the wind but we can adjust our sails.” When the storm winds blow, sailors, and windsurfers too, need to adjust their sails. You and I, need to follow suit and adjust our spiritual sails when the storm winds blow on the sea of life.
And the storm winds will blow! Someone once said, “You’re either in a trial right now, coming out of one, or getting ready to go into one.” We are never going to avoid the winds of storms in our lifetime. But we can learn to navigate the storms by adjusting our sails when the strong winds of adverse trials and “in the valley moments” blow.
God’s Word tells us, “In the world you will have trouble, but take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) What beautiful comfort! Jesus was urging his disciples to have faith and trust in God’s plan, and to not lose hope or be discouraged by the difficulties they may encounter. Jesus was assuring them that they may find peace in Him. However, some of our trials seem to never lift or seem to last a long time. And in those times we may wonder where God is.
A second circumstance in which a sailor needs to adjust their sails is when there is a lull in the wind – when the wind is simply not blowing and cannot be found. This reminds me of a second sailing, “The winds of grace blow all the time. All we need to do is adjust our sails.”
A true-to-life movie entitled, “True Spirit,” tells of 16-year-old Jessica Watson who dreamed of becoming the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe, non-stop, unassisted, and in a tiny sailboat. This meant she did not dock at any port along the way. The journey was estimated to take 200 days, and it was smooth sailing until she encountered her first intense storm. Jessica adjusted her sails and rode out the storm, but then days later, she hit a period of “dead calm”, or a period where there was a lull in the wind. As a result, Jessica’s boat remained stationary for a week, and during that week, Jessica suffered from depression and loneliness.
A sailor’s lull like Jessica’s is comparable to us feeling that God is distant, God is not hearing my prayers, He is not answering them. Numerous instances exist where we can get discouraged during our trials, and wonder if God has forgotten us. We may say something like, “I believe the Lord has actually forgotten me. If He had not forgotten me, if He were still with me, how would I be in this predicament? If He truly were watching over me, surely I would not have to endure these trials.”
However, just as God reminds us we will have trouble in this world, He also reminds us in Isaiah 49:15-16, that regardless of how it may seem, regardless of how we feel, He will never forget us –
“15Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.” 16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.”
God is making the point that in the unlikely event that a mother were to forget her nursing child, He will not forget us. God is committed to His children, and He will never forget a single one. God’s care for His own is like the sun – it’s constant. Even when the clouds obscure it, it’s still there. It’s always there.
The storm winds will blow throughout our journey here on earth. “We cannot control the wind, but we can adjust our sails.” Sometimes, there will be a lull in the winds, and when there is, we need to adjust the sails of our feelings, which will often lie to us, and replace them with the sails that represent what you KNOW to be true about God. He will not forget His children. “The winds of grace blow all the time. All we need to do is adjust our sails.”