You live on the tides of life. Sometimes the waters seem smooth, and sometimes they seem rough. What makes the difference between smooth flow and flow not so smooth may be the speed. It may not be the speed, yet smooth is even-tempered, and rough is not so engaging.

But whether the ride is rough or smooth, fast or slow, even or uneven, long or short, you arrive at your destination.

You arrive where you have never left except as it seems to you on your voyage of life in the world. You are on a cruise, beloveds, and yet your cruise may seem beset with disturbance. Disturbance is just something getting out of the way. Disturbance is a harbinger of change. It is a beckoner of growth.

Of course, you don’t invite disturbance. Invite peace. And yet, when disturbance finds you, don’t take it as an assault. Your plans have changed, that’s all. Even in the middle of the ocean, your plans can change.

Beckon life to you. Beckon life, but don’t insist, and don’t push it away. It will move on soon enough, much the way the moon grows and wanes day by day. The moon’s cycle is short and anticipated. Your flow of life may be a surprise. Some surprises you like.

Life is not a horse that you can restrain with a rein. Life is more like a beloved dog who always jumps over the fence or finds some way to get out of his yard. And yet the playful dog always returns to you wagging its tail and so happy to see you. The dog may be muddy and knock you over while he is licking your face.

This playful puppy called life doesn’t mean to inconvenience you. It just is playing out on the streets, and you are discomfited. And this puppy you cannot train or tame. Life is so rambunctious and creative and there is such a confluence of activity when one person’s life meets another, and so it is throughout the whole planet.

And then sometimes life seems to take a rest and doesn’t pay all that much attention to you, and you can catch your breath as well.

In one way, We can say that life is the master, and you follow along. You may not orchestrate life as you would wish, yet you can be as you wish.

Wherever you are in the cycle of the washing machine that I now switch to calling life, you have to go along with it. You don’t have to bang on the door or scream to get into a different cycle. Sooner or later, you will be in the gentle cycle, and sooner of later you will come out all fresh and new and clean. While life is going on, you are the conductor of it, even when you are thrown hither and yon. You can clench your teeth, or you can smile. You can even laugh at all the contortions you have gone through. You can shed a different light on them. You can be glad that you are further ahead now.

You are always further ahead. Hot water, cold water, too much soap, not enough, you are ahead. No matter how scathed, you come out unscathed. You go through the cycles of life, and you are a hero of it. You are the hero of your own life. You have experienced what no one else has, and you came out from the wringer. What you have gone through doesn’t really matter. That is the past. And now you are in the present, and you triumphed. You are reading My words, aren’t you?