The Storm before the Calm.

I know many photographers, several of them personally. I am amazed at the ability of one to capture an emotion or a feeling in a simple moment that now, because of our digital age, can become a permanent record.......almost like its own kind of journal entry.

There is one photographer in particular I'd like to tell you about. His name is Clark Little and his artwork in photography comes to us from Hawaii. Clark's pictures are a combination of water, light, motion, and sky. To me, some of them are nothing more that visually stimulating photographs which capture your attention with color and patterns. However, there is one that perhaps we can all relate to, as it demands you to look closer.

This is my most favorite of the hundreds of photos I've seen from Clark Little. I believe it is one that we can all relate to.
Notice that the sky is a beautiful blue. Only a few white "cotton ball-like" clouds. The sun is out and the beach looks gorgeous.
However, there is something here, caught in a split second in time, that is going to happen to the person who is trying to brace for what is coming. Perhaps, because of experience, they know how to prepare. Perhaps this happens daily. Maybe their feet are in the sand deep enough to be sure footed, grounded or even anchored to where they are.

Maybe not.

Have you heard of the phrase "The calm before the storm?" It refers to a period of time that is stable, predictable, or uneventful as far as life's circumstances go. It may come when you notice that life is going along so well, nothing bad has happened, no inconveniences of life have fallen upon you.

The phrase that seem more compatible with my life is "The storm before the calm." This is when life is tumultuous, busy, overwhelming, where multiple inconveniences happen, usually one after another. It is a storm by all definitions, even to the point where you may feel like you are drowning.
When I reach "The storm before the calm" moments and those around me ask me how I'm doing, sometimes all I can muster in my pretending to be optimistic is a simple, "I'm just riding the wave." I'm trying to stay with my surfboard, I'm trying to keep my head above water and when I get too tired, I do my best to tread the water as best as I can. Sometime I reach out for my lifesavers, those in my life found to be trustworthy, to help me float along until I am able to swim again.

I remember some rip-currents in life where my simple prayer to Father above has been a pleading for him to hold on to me, because I was not confident in the strength in my arms to hold on to him.

In Matthew 14, as we learn about Christ walking on the water, do we notice that he didn't walk when the water was calm? In verse 24 we are told that the ship was "tossed with waves" because the "wind was contrary." The apostles where having a "Storm before the Calm" moment. Then Christ, after reassuring them of who he was, invited Peter to.....Come (vs. 29). After Peter saw that the winds where "boisterous" (although I'm sure he knew what the winds were like, he probably remembered after he took his focus off of Christ, and began to pay more attention to the storm around him) he began to sink and pleaded for Christ to save him. In verse 31, it describes the action as "immediately." Then the verbal reply from the Savior, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"
To some, this might be a rebuke. To me, it is a reminder of how I myself feel sometimes. Almost instantaneously, I hear myself reply the same as what the father in Mark 9:24 felt.

"And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief....."
If your reply is similar to that, and you are in the "Storm before the Calm" moment, please remember Elder J. Holland's comforting message:

If you are lonely, please know you can find comfort. If you are discouraged, please know you can find hope. If you are poor in spirit, please know you can be strengthened. If you feel you are broken, please know you can be mended.