The Perfect Wave
This year marks 50 years that I’ve been surfing. I did a little math for fun, and this is what it looks like if I’m counting.
Over the last 20 years, I’ve averaged about 100 surf sessions a year. Prior to that, I averaged about 150 sessions a year. This means I’ve gone surfing around 6,250 times over the last 50 years. On average, I catch about 10 waves a session. That translates to roughly 62,500 waves. Now let’s talk about surfing conditions. Of the 100 sessions a year that I surf, only a handful of those days would qualify as perfect surf conditions. This means that the majority of the time, I’m surfing in average conditions—and many times, in subpar conditions. Of course, those perfect days are what we surfers dream about.
I was surfing the other day and the conditions were below average. I started thinking about what it would be like if the waves were perfect every day. I thought to myself, “That would be amazing!” Then I remembered an episode from an old TV show I used to watch called The Twilight Zone. You can still see the reruns, but they’re in black and white. In this particular episode, a guy is involved in an armed robbery. He runs from the police but gets shot in the back. The next thing he knows, he wakes up in a Las Vegas kind of place. There are casinos, nightclubs, high-end bars, and beautiful women. He goes to a casino and starts winning. In fact, he can’t lose. Beautiful women keep bringing him top-shelf drinks and Cuban cigars. For the next few days, he thinks he’s in heaven. In fact, he makes some snide remarks to himself about all the suckers who played by the rules. After a while, he gets tired of winning at the casino. He loves the attention from all the beautiful women, but he realizes he’s done nothing to deserve their adoration. The conditions are so perfect, he becomes disgruntled. He wants to lose at the casino—but he can’t. He wants something resembling a normal life—but every day is another perfect day. In sheer frustration, he cries out, “This is hell!” An evil-looking man standing behind him turns toward him and says, “And where do you think you are?”
So back to my surf session with below-average waves. Yes, perfect waves would be nice—but what makes those perfect days so special are the average and below-average days.
This morning I went surfing in small waves. The skies were blue, and so was the ocean. I caught a few waves and managed to finish with a really nice one. I walked down the beach and thought to myself, “I’m so blessed. I live 12 minutes away from the ocean in a place that has near-perfect weather. I get to surf a couple of times a week, usually with friends or family.”
The point is, just like the condition of the waves, we have to make the best of what the ocean gives us—or, more importantly, what life gives us. If life always gave us perfect conditions, we’d find a way to complain about it. How would we even know what perfect conditions are unless we’ve experienced bad ones?
In this Christmas season, I pray that whether you experience perfect conditions, average conditions, or even terrible conditions, you learn the secret of being content.
Philippians 4:12b (NIV): “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…”
Surf’s up!
Steve