Seahorses

Swimming up through waves of green and gold
getting lost in reefs of coral
forests of mahogany and yellow
they wonder why it's always dark at the bottom of the ocean.
The water carries them gently
a lilting motion
eddying waves with foam on top
where the seahorses cannot see.
They swim down, down to the bottom
and float softly through the swaying green that ripples in the wind
the wind of the sea.
Suddenly, a light pierces the always gloomy murk.
Gently, it sends a shaft that colors all it touches with soft golden sheen.
The seahorses are surrounded and bathed in the glow.
They dance and gleam in the light
but only for a moment
the sun sinks lower in the western sky
the shaft moves farther and farther away
and then
gone
and the seahorses roam again in the darkening gloom
soon forgetting their dance and the sun
seeing only what they saw before
only now it is not enough
not the same
forever tarnished by the warmth of a moment never again repeated.

Thunder, Lightning, and Sharks

It's thunderstorming here and the streaks of lightning are both exciting and terrifying. Thunderstorms didn't use to scare me but in the last few years, for some odd reason, the clash of thunder is enough to make me cringe when I think of the possibility of being electrocuted. This is probably something we call irrational fear. I'm not afraid of electrocution itself..more the idea of it, and if I sit down and consider the chances of bing electrocuted, I'm not actually afraid of that either.

The statistic I've heard regarding shark attacks and being struck by lightning isn't very comforting either. Apparently, more people are struck by lightning every year than are attacked by sharks. This statement is meant to comfort one when going to the beach, but for some reason I usually remember it when there's a thunderstorm. During a storm, all the memories and images I have of shark attacks and people with missing limbs who survived only to return to surfing (I never did understand that girl..) come flooding back and I realize that shark attacks do happen, and obviously if they happen..so does electrocution.

Actually, I think what really made me begin to fear thunderstorms was a night last year. I went to sleep with the window open because it was a humid summer night (common to Ohio) and the rain wasn't coming in, or maybe it wasn't even raining when I went to sleep. I was awakened at about 3am by the loudest clap of thunder I've ever heard in my life. I'm not exaggerating. It woke me up, and if you know the kinds of things I sleep through --my siblings screaming bloody murder in the carseat next to me only one of many examples-- that fact would prove how loud this clap of thunder was. It was accompanied --that's right, accompanied..not proceeded by-- a blinding flash of lightning (ok, so this might be an exaggeration because I was half asleep), and a burnt smell. I don't know if it's possible to smell lightning, but I swear I smelled something burning. It was really like waking up to the end of the world, probably in part because I was groggy and not thinking straight, which is evidenced by the fact that I immediately jumped out of bed, ran to my parents' room and whispered urgently in my fathers ear, "Daddy, was the house struck by lightning?"

If I had been thinking straight, I would have realized that it would have been slightly more obvious if the house had actually been struck by lightning, but, again, I blame all this on a brain only half-awake. Whatever the reason for my actions, that memory of waking up to what seemed like a very terrifying 'end of the world' is very vivid and seems to have sparked some kind of irrational fear of thunder storms: nothing too dramatic. I'm not terrified of them and I can dance in the rain while watching lightning, but, all the same, it does make me cringe when the forked tongues slice across the sky and a loud clap of thunder splits the air, especially within a few seconds of the lightning, which, thanks to my 9th grade online science class, I now can convert to the approximate number of miles away from us that the lightning is striking.

Of course, according to this website, more people die by eletrocution from Christmas tree lights per year than by shark attacks....so maybe being struck by lightning isn't that common after all.
;)

Trust

Trust is an interesting thing, so easily given, so quickly lost. It takes about a second and a half to say the words "I trust you" and still they form bonds that promise to hold under the most intense pressure. Yet, in less than a second and a half the bonds can be shattered, discarded, and mangled beyond recognition. It's been said that a wise man trusts only those he knows he can put faith in, but never gives up his trust, even when his strength is tested by suspicions and doubts. A foolish man, on the other hand, loses his trust as easily as he gives it, and with the first signs of danger he is gone.

Trust is ironic too. When one's trust in another falters, it is likely that the other will lose trust in return. If you promise to trust even in hard times and as soon as they come, lose your trust, was it trust at all? It's a mutual bond connecting two people and if one person finds fault in it, the bond is hurt for both people.

Trust, for some, requires great effort to maintain, for others it comes as naturally as walking. Jesus, when he said that we must become like a little child to enter the kingdom of God, meant that we must trust him blindly like a child, for, like a child with its parents, we have no choice. He is our only means of safety and our only sure way to happiness. If we try to trust those we love it will gradually become more and more easy to do and improve our friendships, with those around us and also with God.

Trust is tricky and elusive, but, once caught, it brightens life and sheds beautiful light on what before was covered over in doubt and darkness.

"We're never so vulnerable than when we trust someone - but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy." ~Walter Anderson