The Wisdom of the Current: Survival, Grace, and the Purpose of Delay

The Wisdom of the Current: Survival, Grace, and the Purpose of Delay

Last week, we explored the essence of caring through the lens of Watson’s Model of Caring, a cornerstone of the nursing profession. As I sat down to reflect on Sunday’s blog, I realized that for me, caring isn’t just a professional framework, it has been the very essence of my life.

My memory often drifts back to my childhood in the Caribbean, where community wasn't just a word, it was a lifeline. It was a place of healthy codependency where the common thread of survival bound us together. I remember neighbors putting their pots on the fire and realizing they were short of an ingredient or two, only to walk next door and receive it freely so they could finish dinner for their families. Growing up watching my grandparents, I learned early that caring is a non-negotiable part of the human experience; I shared my lunch, my paper, and my pencils because that was the rhythm of our lives. Those early years taught me that caring is a vital part of being human.

Yet, beneath that beautiful spirit of sharing was a landscape of constant survival mode. My life is a true testimony to the Lord’s intervention because the dangers were very real. We navigated a world without proper roads, often facing raging, overflowing rivers that we had to find a way across just to get to school. In that same space, we lived alongside those whose minds had been overtaken by schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. With no medications or institutions to support them, they roamed the community freely, creating a dangerous environment to navigate. Both the floods and the unpredictable nature of untreated illness taught me that while we depended on one another to live, it was a higher grace that truly saw us through.

I vividly remember a father and son in our community who both struggled with severe, untreated mental illness and were often dangerous; the father would drink Bay Rum, meant to be a topical ointment, while the son roamed with a long, sharpened machete. One afternoon, when I was a little girl, maybe 7 or 8 years old. I was collecting mangoes when I saw the son coming down the road with that blade in hand. I recall going into survival mode, I lay so flat and still, holding my breath until he passed and turned the corner. It is moments like those where I realize my life is a true testimony; in a place without proper roads or safety nets, navigating the terrain of both the environment and the unpredictable people around us required a level of divine intervention just to make it home.

From the vantage point of a survivor, you realize that a delay is actually an invitation to check your reserves. In the story of the five foolish virgins, it was the delay of the bridegroom that rooted them out. The scriptures never expressed why the groom was delayed. Imagine the chaos and the cost of bringing five foolish wives into a home! That delay served a divine purpose for the groom.

The Wisdom of the Current

When I look back at that little girl on the mango hill, watching danger pass by on the road below, or navigating the raging rivers just to get to school, I realize that surviving a crisis gives you a remarkably clear viewpoint on outcomes. You learn to stop measuring life by how closely it matches your plans and start appreciating the simple, profound fact that you are still standing and breathing.

Today, when I encounter delays or interruptions, those moments where life doesn't play out the way I imagined. I find it easier to relax through the ebbs and flows. I’ve learned to trust the currents. There is a higher power working things out, often in spite of our preconceptions of how we would want our lives to progress.

Happy Sunday, I love you, I do.