So far I’ve lived my whole life smack dab in the middle of the US, thousands of miles from an ocean. Yes, we have the Great Lakes which are famous for shipwrecks, and they are huge, but still, my first time seeing an ocean was only 4 years ago, firmly in my 30s (well, except for seeing Boston Harbor on a high school band trip to Boston, if ocean-lovers count a harbor as the ocean).
From the moment I laid eyes on and played in the vast Atlantic Ocean that January day in Florida (where the weather was perfect while a blizzard raged at home), I knew I loved the ocean. Then a couple summers ago we were able to play in the Pacific Ocean outside of LA after serving at a youth camp. Rock climbing for a week and then playing in the ocean? Amazing trip.
A few weeks ago my family had the opportunity to travel to France*, and as it turns out, the southwest part of the country where we were is famous for surfing. Now, I may be from the Midwest, but ever since seeing Soul Surfer shortly after its release, I’ve daydreamed about learning to surf. I watch surfers on Instagram and I imagine I’m a surfer every time I subject myself to burpees. Suddenly the floor becomes a surfboard and I have a reason to push my body up and jump into a quad-burning squat. This is real motivation, folks.
So, when our family was suddenly staying in a surfing town during a surfing event and we and our travel friends discovered the chance for a surfing lesson from certified surf instructors, I signed up faster than I could dig out a handful of Euros. The lesson did not disappoint, and now I really have motivation for burpees. Here are some lessons I learned from my 2-hour surfing lesson and what those lessons have to do with the rest of life.
Keep your eyes on the beach.
Early in the lesson, our incredibly cool instructor (seriously, the trilingual guy coaches surfers and drives a motorcycle – I wouldn’t be surprised if he also rock climbs) taught us that we absolutely have to keep our eyes on the beach when trying to catch and ride a wave. In his French accent, he explained that the second we look down, we fall.
Keep your eyes where you want to go.
How true is this in the rest of life, too? According to the Bible, this surfing pointer is very good life advice.
Proverbs 4:25-27: Let your eyes look straight ahead,
And your eyelids look right before you.
Ponder the path of your feet,
And let all your ways be established.
Do not turn to the right or the left;
Remove your foot from evil.
Deuteronomy 5:32-33: “Therefore you shall be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.
Joshua 1:7: Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.
2 Chronicles 34:2: And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
The world is full of distractions, full of waves that will sweep us off our feet. As we see from these verses, the direction we go is largely determined by our focus. If I’m looking right and left of the surfboard, I’ll fall. My eyes needed to be straight ahead. If we want to make it to our goal, we must keep our eyes and actions focused on where we want to go.
The surfer in the photo on the right isn’t me, unfortunately. When a friend sent it, I was thrilled that she’d captured me exhibiting such perfect form. When I zoomed in, I noticed it was another friend in our group, but hey, her form is great and her eyes are on the beach!
Get your head in the water.
After seeing me fall a few times, our instructor told me I needed to get my “head in the water,” meaning I had to shut out thoughts of everything else and completely focus on the steps I needed to take. Interestingly, in May I took a rock climbing instructor certification assessment and one of my assessors told me much the same thing. He said, “You’re really good, but you gotta get out of your head.” He explained that I was letting the worry of the assessment and test jitters get in the way of doing what I knew how to do. I needed to focus better. When Joe from Ted’s Surf School gave me such similar advice, I realized I need laser focus when doing stressful and hard things.
This reminds me of Matthew 6:33-34: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
If we let distractions and fear steal our focus, we miss the chance to ride the wave. God wants us to focus on His Kingdom and His righteousness, not a million details we can’t change. (Thankfully I passed the climbing assessment in May, in case you’re wondering, and I’ve thought a lot about whether to make a similar post about lessons learned from taking climbing instructor courses and assessments).
When the time comes, do what you’ve prepared to do.
We began our surfing lesson on the sand, complete with 3D sand waves and surfboard diagrams hand drawn in the sand. Our instructor modeled the steps to standing up, from the beginner’s 3-step process to the skilled pop-up like the pros can do. He had us practice the steps until they seemed pretty doable, and then he took us in the ocean. We knew the basics of what to do, and it was time to give it a shot. This made me think of the many times in life when we practice the steps, and then when the time comes, we need to do what we’ve prepared for. Head in the water, eyes on the beach. If you hesitate, you miss it. Don’t think about outside responsibilities or fear of the rapidly moving water that could kill you. Just do what you’ve prepared to do. As God told Moses before crossing the Red Sea in Exodus 14:15: And the Lord said to Moses,“Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.
Go forward. It sounds so simple, just like when our surfing instructor would guide our boards into a wave and at a precise moment tell us, “Chicken wings. Knees. Stand.” When the wave would catch my board and the instructor’s voice told me exactly when to act, I at first thought, “Easier said than done. Here goes nothing.” But as it turned out, if I followed his instructions and simply did what he told me to do, it worked! Following God’s instructions is the same.
But of course…
It won’t always be perfect, but there can still be a lot of fun in the imperfect.
One of the most fun things about our surfing lesson was that we could always try again. I quickly learned that when I messed up, the next wave would arrive in less than 5 seconds, so I could just try again. And riding into the beach lying down or on my knees turned out to be pretty fun too. Was it discouraging to set up for the next wave, try to execute the steps perfectly, and flop? Well, yes, a little bit, but even in the mess-ups, we had fun. And since every cloud has a silver lining, it’s also worth noting that when I crashed and burned in the water, I discovered that the roaring saltwater was marvelously effective at clearing out the sinuses.
Most of life isn’t perfect, and we shouldn’t wait for the scant glimpses of perfection to enjoy life.
Psalm 118:24: This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Ecclesiastes 3:12-13: I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.
So what’s next for this Midwestern family? Before we were even out of our wetsuits after the lesson, my 9-year-old daughter asked when we’d get to go surfing again. I was wondering the same thing. I’ve always heard that some hard-core folks surf on the Great Lakes, and since we could drive to Lake Superior in 2.5 hours and Lake Michigan in 4.5 hours, we may have to plan a day trip to practice our baby surfing skills. And until then, there are always burpees in the living room and daydreaming.
*I haven’t always been a world traveler, but my husband and I are learning that when such opportunities knock, it’s well worth opening the door.
If you’ve tried surfing (or if you’re a skilled surfer), what lessons have you learned that taught you something about life?
To read more of my What It Has To Do With The Rest of Life mini-series, check out: