Wednesday September 3, 2008
The way the wind blows
At times, the lake out in front of our house lies as still and calm as a plate glass mirror. And then, inevitably, a wind will start blowing, funnelling along the long valley between the hills.
First, the clear reflections break up.
Then wavelets appear. Just little ripples, catspaws, pushed along by the wind. If the wind is fitful, the wavelets will go every which way — falling over each other, catching up, falling behind…
But as the wind steadies, those little wavelets pile on top of each other. They move in the same direction; the waves get bigger. They develop some uniformity. A long line of waves begins to march up the lake in a regular rhythm.
On a lake, these waves rarely get more than a metre or so, trough to crest. That\’s big enough, when you\’re out in a small boat, and the wave crests come at you in quick succession.
In my younger days, in the Gulf of Georgia, waves had more time to gather momentum. I recall going boating when the crest of an oncoming wave would completely block the mountains of Vancouver Island rising above the horizon.
On the open ocean, waves can get even bigger. But not necessarily more dangerous. A groundswell, sweeping across the Pacific, may have a ten-metre rise and fall. But the crests may be so far apart that you might never know a wave had just passed by.
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If you want to order my books, you can call 1-800-663-2775 in Canada, 1-800-328-0200 in the U.S., or order them on-line at the Wood Lake Books website.
For a lighter look at ethics, faith, and life, I recommend Ralph Milton\’s weekly e-newsletter Rumors. You can subscribe to it at the Wood Lake Books home page in Ralph Milton\’s Site, or by sending a note directly to ralphmilton@woodlake.com.
It\’s also worth pursuing Charlene Fairchild\’s United Online site. Another site worth visiting is David Keating\’s \”SeemslikeGod\” page.
I find that a valuable analogy, when people tell me that they\’re being buffeted by too many changes. Changes in tax and policies. Changes in the price of gasoline. Changes in church liturgies and beliefs. Changes in medical care.
Especially changes in family life… “I never even had sex with my wife until after we were married,” one man lamented recently. “Having a child outside of wedlock was disgraceful. Now my teenage granddaughter is pregnant. And everyone seems to think it\’s normal…”
Most of these changes, to my mind, are superficial, like the surface wavelets. Which doesn\’t mean they\’re unimportant – they do splash and slop and get people wet. But they\’re not necessarily threatening – yet. They don\’t force individuals to change their faith, to become refugees, or to join a jihad against Wal-Mart.
But in our concern about surface wavelets, we often fail to perceive the underlying groundswell. As changes develop a consistent pattern, they generate their own momentum. They start turning into an irresistible force.
And then one day we realize that our ocean no longer feels familiar. While we were watching the wavelets, a new weather system has set in. The big waves come at us from a different direction. We\’re confused. We\’ve lost our bearings.
A recent news item referred to “The structural inability of government and industry to deal with potentially catastrophic problems, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.”
But we ordinary people find ourselves just as incapable of adapting easily to new circumstances.
It\’s important to distinguish between ripples and groundswells.
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Copyright © 2007 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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