The other night I was awake in the middle of the night for quite a while. My brain was swirling and working on many things. As I was trying to slow my breath and mind using a breath prayer, I had the strangest sensation, almost as if I was floating and moving in zero-g. Rather than wrestling with whatever was occupying my mind, I was dancing with God, following unheard music and feeling utterly free and joyful and knowing that this was the way through. Not brute force of intellect or logic but surrender to the One who has solutions we do not yet imagine. I was able to return to sleep, and woke still knowing this truth.
Yesterday morning my eyes were scanning the horizon as usual, and I noticed these dolphins, swimming gently in one spot. I watched a while, feeling again in my body the sensation I had the other night. The dolphins were being lifted by the swells but they also have their own strength and will to work with the swells, or against them.
I am reminded of the story of Jacob in Genesis 32. He wrestled all night with an angel. What if he had danced instead? Why do we feel we need to struggle, to earn a blessing by the power of our own strength, rather than to rest knowing we already are blessed beyond measure?
We are swimming in God's love all the time - that love is the ocean that surrounds us, supports us, and guides us. We can swim with the current, or against it. We can wrestle, or we can dance.