Our lives are like that, though: we can "sail" through the waves of some stressful situations with no difficulty, and then encounter a problem, an event, a situation that catches us in huge, rolling swells, movements that leave us literally off-balance and deluged by a storm of sickening anxiety and dread.
It's very hard to navigate the decks or inside corridors of a ship heading through rough swells. It's hard to sleep on bunks that move so much you're rolling side to side. In an ocean-sized life storm, we don't know how to stay steady on our emotional feet because the ground beneath us seems to be constantly shifting. We never know from day to day or minute to minute the direction in which this ocean storm is going to tumble us. We lie awake at night, rolling from side to side, beset with fears of our lives veering off course because our inner radar isn't working.
Then, we hear a Voice of calmness that somehow is audible over the roar of the waves: Hope will not let go of you, will not let you veer off course, will not let you capsize or sink. Hope is the anchor that sinks below those mountainous swells and holds you steady in the peaceful Will of God.
The storm may rage on outside us, but Hope anchors our souls so we can focus on God's inner guidance. Hope keeps our eyes attuned to the radar of the Holy Spirit's counseling; Hope opens our ears to the steady beat of our Father's loving heart, always Present to us; Hope assures us that Jesus, our Brother, paces the deck beside us. Inwardly anchored and resting in this Holy Community of Love, little by little, hour by hour, day by day, month by month, year by year, we can sail safely and steadily towards Home Port, nestled in a bay of eternally peaceful waters.