Embracing Life
Raising the Sail
Miracles occur daily. Ramakrishna, an Indian saint, said, “The winds of grace are always blowing, but you have to raise the sail.”
Raising my sail was a slow process. For years I crawled through life, wrapped tightly in a security blanket of self-doubt. By slowly gaining self confidence and owning my inner divinity, I began learning how to let go of fear. Exploring outside of my safety net was a huge leap of faith. My first baby step in developing an awareness of the limitless possibilities was to slow down slightly and observe.
With little effort, I discovered small miracles. Appreciating the magnificent sunrise, witnessing students as they learned that character counts in the school where I work, and observing co-workers nominating peers for awards (acknowledging unselfish acts), I began releasing reservations and yearning for more. Seeing goodness in my daily routine partially raised my sail.
Recently taking a giant stride, I accepted an invitation to travel to the rain forest of Costa Rica. The reasons to turn down the offer were numerous. I had other obligations, airfare was expensive, eight of the nine individuals traveling in the group were in their 20s and/or were surfers (the ninth person was me), and we were traveling across rough, unnamed roads for seven hours to a remote jungle. I chose to go.
Making that decision, never second-guessing my plan, and simply praying for miracles opened my portal for receiving blessings at a speed so fast that it was almost blinding. My entire journey was filled with grace, right from the beginning.
Our flight left Miami International Airport on a weekday morning, a peak time for rush hour traffic. We feared arriving late, due to the logistics of our plan. A drive that typically takes nearly two hours took only 30 minutes.
I sat beside and shared stories with Maria as we soared toward her home, Costa Rica. Maria’s testimony began by explaining how her family moved to America temporarily for financial reasons. Weeks after their arrival her son developed a cough; US doctors successfully diagnosed and treated his cancer. Relocation from her country saved Ian’s life. She tearfully described the miracle as “God’s will.”
Maria welcomed me to San Jose, as we landed. She strongly suggested that we quickly proceed to Nosara, as her country does not have street signs or house numbers. Our only basic directions were via the Internet and making one mistake would mean losing valuable daylight. After sunset it would be nearly impossible to find our destination. Miraculously we found Casa Surfeando, our rental unit, before dark.
My daughter and I began the next morning by walking barefoot on the beach. We got carried away on our adventure when we spotted a trail winding through the jungle, luring us to explore the unknown. Gingerly treading on rocks, roots, and rotting wood we arrived at the end of the path. We discovered a beautiful black blanket of hardened lava, sparkling in the sun’s rays below a bright blue beach. Loni and I stood in silence to study our breathtaking surroundings. Gigantic boulders jetted out in the water to our left, a rich forest filled with fabulous foliage bordered behind, with mysterious mountainous terrain to our right. We completely lost track of time and reality, and later learned of many living and inanimate objects that are dangerous to step on without the protection of shoes.
Many more miracles filled the memorable moments of my sacred stay. Mere words cannot describe the divine bliss I experienced by embracing the courage to accept God’s blessings.
Michael Murphy, author of “The Future of the Body: Explorations into the Further Evolution of Human Nature,” believes that receiving grace is a transformative, learned practice. Murphy agrees with Ramakrishna, but adds the importance of enlarging our sail once it is raised, “…you have to have a sail broad enough to catch grace.”
