The Goggles Always Leak, Eventually

Finding our Way When the Fog Sets In

A few weeks ago new swim goggles arrived in the mail and within 24-hours I was back in local rec center’s pool for some laps. It had been a few weeks since I last swam, largely because the previous goggles had been getting foggy - and then they started filling with water far-too-quickly.

Fortunately, I had done my due diligence with the new goggles.

1. Brand name

2. Easy, custom-fit adjustments that ensured an impenetrable seal.

3. Some kind of slick material on the eye portion that is so effective at repelling the possibility of fog from the goggles that you may as well be walking in the park on clear a day.

I put the goggles over my eyes, jumped into the water, and began long, freestyle strokes as my body adjusted to the cold rush.

For a few moments, the clarity was stunning! I’d forgotten how nice it is to have goggles that actually allow for underwater sight.

But by the end of the first, few lengths an old familiar thing began again: fog was creeping in.

Eventually, the growing fog was accompanied by the first droplet of water inside the goggles. It was not to long before near-blindness quickly became the predomination underwater sensation.

At that point, I began taking deeper inhales above water because my entire body was now working far harder to stay afloat and move forward.

Shortly thereafter, I took my first break at the wall.

I am confident there are goggles out there that allow for wonderful, fog-and-water free clarity for hours on end. In 15 years of recreational swimming, I have not found them. Whether sooner, later, or somewhere in-between, the new goggles inevitably fog, leak, or both.

—

What a genuine gift when we jump into the cold familiar of a new day - and this time with the clarity of great goggles!

The recent…

Course we took
Coaching we received
Crisis we navigated
Counsel we heeded
Credential we earned
Conundrum we solved

…somehow brought to our life-and-work fresh 20/20 Vision!

Great teachers, friends, siblings, coaches, counselors, preachers, books, poems, and songs have all in their own way been trustworthy goggles which helped free a deep, inner proclamation:

I know what matters, who matters, and where we’re going!

And we settle into the waters for 2000 meters of forthcoming excellence.

But…

Every single time, without fail, fog begins creeping back in.

It doesn’t matter how famous, wise, or trusted our goggles,
how airtight the promise of the coaching course we took,
how slick the marketing that promised a path unto continual wealth, triumph, and adventure.

Eventually, by way of external challenges or internal doubts or just the latest pile of emails, laundry, and life - fog finds its way back in.

Sometimes, even, droplets (then floods) of life’s waters get in and prove so problematic that we feel essentially blind.

What was I doing again?
Where are we going?
Was it this way we need to go? Or that way? Or…?

What, then? What do we do about the days when our bodies-and-minds are using every last ounce of energy just to stay afloat…in a pure fog?

(Photo by JOHN TOWNER on Unsplash)

—

A thought crossed my mind while catching my breath at the wall.

What if I didn’t wear goggles for a few laps?

Honestly, it had been since my childhood days at the pool since I last swam any measure of a pool without goggles.

The first few strokes were a pure disasters. I clenched my eyes close to resist the chlorine, water and the general unknown of trying the unfamiliar.

Eventually, I did, in fact, open my eyes and immediately startled myself with how much I could see.

I mean, it was nothing close to a pristine, snorkeling-in-the-Caribbean kind of thing. It was wavy and hazy, but also definitely enough sight to catch the long, black line below.

Soon enough, my arms, legs, and core came together in a measure of synchronicity - and with my eyes holding to the line below…

I swam. Goggle-less.

Not exactly easy.
Definitely not lost.
And definitely doable - most especially because the long, black line is ever-thick and true. It even seemed to move toward me as I propelled forward.

(Photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash)

—

There is a Line, a Path, a Way that is the true guide for each heart. It is not necessarily straight, but it is definitely there.

Annie Dillard called it your one necessity.

I think it would be well, and proper, and obedient, and pure, to grasp your one necessity and not let it go, to dangle from it limp wherever it takes you.

Howard Thurman called that line the genuine sound within.

There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.

Maya Angelou called it mother wit.

Listen carefully to what country people call mother wit. In those homely sayings are couched the collective wisdom of generations.

Anne Lamott called it what calls you from your heart and your spirit.

I believe in listening to what calls you from your heart and your spirit and if you do it badly, like learning to dance, you do it badly or you’re going to kick yourself when you grow old and you meant to do it.

Van Gogh called it your profession.

Your profession is not what brings home your weekly paycheck, your profession is what you're put here on earth to do, with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.

The Bible calls it the Call of God, and it usually begins with God’s voice calling a specific name (Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Martha, Saul).

And in those seasons where the goggles are fogging or simply not available to help find-afresh-and-hold-to The Line, I do find we can nevertheless take heart:

There is…

• A kind of sight that our childhood eyes knew quite naturally.

• A kind of sight not afraid of the wavy, hazy ways of reality.

• A kind of sight equal parts fool-hearted and inspiring in its belief that no matter the waters the heart can find The Line - and navigate.

Maybe today we pull to the side of the wall, take a deep inhale of fresh breath (perhaps by way of prayer, working out, or taking a walk) and then dive back in amid the fog-and-flood trusting our eyes to see afresh…

Your One Necessity
The Genuine Sound Within
Mother Wit
What Calls You from Your Heart and Your Spirit
Your Profession
The Call of God…

…The Line that is not only holding steady, but it’s almost like it is coming toward us.

And our whole being is now moving into a new synchronicity.