WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2023 - YOU CAN’T DISCOVER NEW LANDS

 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2023 - YOU CAN’T DISCOVER NEW LANDS

You can’t discover new lands unless you lose sight of the shore.  

Scene:

It’s Wednesday, August 3, 1492.  We are finally ready. I have 90 men and three ships.  In the crow’s nest, I have a man with a telescope.  We have supplies for about 100 days.  But, I am certain (at least in my heart and head), that we are going to find some land - preferably the Spice Islands - before we run out of food.

My man in the crow’s nest just yelled down.  He has lost sight of land - there is only the ocean.  We could turn around - but that wouldn’t prove anything.  

We had many good days.  It was after the hot days of summer and before the cold days of winter.  

On Monday, October 10, 1492, the man in the crow’s nest saw something he thought might be land.  We changed our direction slightly to head for it.  On Tuesday, October 11, 1492, we neared the island and put out our anchor, and on Wednesday, October 12, 1492, we took our rowboats and landed on a nice island.  There was fresh water and various game animals and birds.  

*****

Columbus had to leave sight of Europe in order to find a new route to the Spice Islands - (which, of course, he didn’t find).  He found a “new world”.  But, he had to leave it all behind.  

There were probably others that got out maybe some fifty days and decided to turn back so they didn’t run out of supplies.  If after 100 days they didn’t find anything, food and water would be crucial to their mission.  There might have been others that sailed out and didn’t find anything - and perished.  

The adage, “You can’t discover new lands unless you lose sight of the shore.”  applied to Columbus and to most of us at some point in life.  

You had to leave home sometime.  You went to college, you joined the military, you took a job in a different city, and you got a new roommate (aka - you got married).  

For almost all of us, back a few generations ago, somebody came from Europe, or Asia, or Africa seeking a new life in the United States.  They had to lose sight of the shore in order to arrive in the United States.  In some respects, we are all immigrants - if we go back far enough.  Even if your ancestors came with Columbus or on the Mayflower, they were immigrants.

Now, losing sight of the shore means changing, and beginning anew.  Maybe it isn’t all that hard these days.  

Let’s see - I was born in Iowa.  That is part of the United States. We spoke English in Iowa. I went to school.  Then I lived in Minnesota - that is also part of the United States and they spoke English there, then Wisconsin then Iowa (again), then Minnesota again, then Oregon, then South Dakota, then Connecticut, and ten years ago moved to Texas.  All of those are part of the United States - and all of them speak English (although Texans can have an accent!!!).

My friends RR and LR moved to the Munich area some five years ago.  Now that was losing sight of the shore - but with today’s telecommunication and airlines, they keep in touch with their previous life.

My academic friends Ramesh (from India) and Mohammad (from Bangladesh) left their lands for the United States. My friend Claudia left Mexico for a better life in the United States.  

It can help in other ways that we discover new lands when we retire - or get divorced - or lose a spouse - or a child.  Our comfort zone gets pressured.  “Hey, this is new”.  We might be in a different physical location.  New grocery store, new church, new neighbors, new life - why?  Because we left something behind and discovered a new shore.

I’m not sure of heaven, although one of the verses of Amazing Grace seems to hint at it. 

“When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first begun.”

In this new year are you going to find new shores?  Are you learning and growing every day?  (I sure am learning and growing every day - and while I don’t suggest my changed life for everybody, I do suggest that we challenge ourselves to find those new shores.  

Like many people, I have (at least an informal) a bucket list.  I want to get to Alaska (the only US state I’ve never been to). I want to get to some of the National Parks in Utah and the Grand Canyon.  I want to get to more state high points (and while I might not climb the high points anymore, I can visit them). 

But, bucket lists don’t have to be places.  I want to have an awesome friend who is black.  I want an awesome friend who is of <Asian, African-American, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindi, or whatever> background. 

Be open to all that God has for you!!!

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

KAREN ANNE WHITE, © JANUARY 18, 2023