Riding the Waves

One of life's simple pleasures is "riding the waves" as they endlessly crash onto the beach.  There's a feeling of exhilaration, as well as a helpless sense of having no control and of being totally at the mercy of the surges: up and down, pushed and pulled, until being duly deposited on the shore. Like being addicted, we run back out and let the waves takes us again, and again and again.
Our growth in the spiritual life is similar.  We ride on the waves of God's plan, God's providence, having little control, yet learning to develop greater trust in the ups and downs, our choices versus God's choices for us.  Like the leper in today's Gospel, we might express our desire for healing and ride on the crest of it's fulfillment (Mk  1: 40-41), Jesus told the leper to keep his cure a secret, but he couldn't restrain his enthusiasm and rode the wave further by telling everyone so that that the crowds came to Jesus in such droves that "it was impossible for him to enter a town openly" (Mk 1:48) and the crowds kept coming and coming.  It was Jesus who had to experience a change of plan because of the leper's enthusiastic response.  We are all subject to the force of the tide!  No doubt, this turn of events was a reminder to Jesus of why he had come, so he must have rejoiced in being tossed by this wave. May our prayer and reflection free us up to be so tossed and tussled by the waves that come our way today.
Bro. Rene