'Don't hold up the wind!'

Originally appeared on spirituality.com

Mary Baker Eddy opened her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, with the promise, “To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings” (p. vii). While taking a lesson in windsurfing a number of years ago, I gained a new perspective on what it means to lean.

A calm lagoon seemed the perfect place for me to spend a few hours learning how to windsurf. The instructor gave me a board, a short sail, and some basic instructions in footwork. I ventured into the waters of the lagoon. The wind was perfect, the water warm. It wasn’t long before I could steer the board wherever I wanted to go around the lagoon. I was having a dandy time! Then the instructor hailed me to shore and gave me a bigger sail – bright pink and well above my head. I took the rope and pulled the sail out of the water as I had before, but with the weight of the larger sail I fell straight backward into the water. Again and again I tried, always with the same result.

The instructor then yelled to me from shore, “Stop trying to hold up the wind!” At first I had no idea what he was talking about. But within a few minutes, I got it!

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