This is one of my favourite pictures! I took it about 2 years back while on the beach at Kaysers. The dolphins were out playing, the sea looked beautiful, and as I closed the shutter, this dolphin happened to jump from it's natural environment, into the air, in one playful move, forever to be 'kapcha'd'.
What I love about this picture isn't only the fact that I captured this beautful creature doing its thing - but also the lesson learnt from this 'fish out of water.'
While a dolphin is indeed a mammal - being out of the water is by no means it's comfort zone. It is created with the ocean as it's home - it's niche - it's space. Yet, looking at this beautiful creative soaring above the wave, you can be forgiven for thinking that the dolphin is as comfortable OUT of the water, as it is in it. Here is the principle:
The Dolphin's comfort OUT OF THE WATER lies in the creatures confidence that its situation is temporary. Taking the fun-loving dive out of the wave, the dolphin knows that the combination of its own momentum, its desire to return to its place of comfort, and - more specifally, the law of gravity governing this entire motion, will see it returning to where it comes from - 'the deep blue'.
If only we could find as much comfort and peace, when we find ourselves temporarily out of our comfort zone. So often the 'OUT OF THE WATER' experiences - an environment of strangers, a foreign social circle, a new challenge at work, a financial speedbump - get us so focussed on where we are NOT, that we don't take in, enjoy, and thrive in where we are.
In this life, there will be challenges - it's a fact. Like death and taxes, life and circumstances will sometime send us hurtling through the waves into the great unknown. How do we respond? Do we panic? Worry? Up our dose of stress medication? Or relax in the knowledge that, despite being out of our comfort zone, two principles apply:
Firstly, like the dolphin, our challenge is temporary. While the consequences of the situation may stick around for some time, or even, for a long time, the particular circumstance is temporary. My wife and I, for example, found ourselves in a fairly awkward social environment some time ago, knowing only the hosts of a particular function. The awkward situation was temporary. The friendship we have formed with the couple sitting next to us, however, remains and has made that awkwardness worthwhile.
Secondly, we're never alone. The words of God are recorded many times in scripture: "I will never leave you, or forsake you." When He inspired those words, He knew full well that there would be times when we are out of our comfort zones - out of where we think we belong. His promise to never leave us is as true out of the water, as it is in it!
Today WILL bring with it challenges. But take comfort that the challenge is temporary, and that no challenge is bigger than the promise that you never have to face it alone!
