Patience and faith
A beach on Captiva Island, Florida, January 2013.
Anne Lindbergh loved Captiva, and wrote Gift from the Sea there.
“The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient…
Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith.”
— Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Few women of any generation could claim a life as full of adventure, triumph and tragedy as Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Yet her concerns were similar to those we often face today: how to find stillness within the chaos of balancing impossibly complex demands, and how to endure unbearable sorrow amid great blessings. Her classic work Gift from the Sea has inspired millions, and seems only to grow more relevant as time passes. If you can put your hands on a copy, I highly recommend you enjoy this wise and calming work. But in the meantime, visit the sea — if not in person, then go there via the many blog posts, photographs and words so readily available online — and meditate on its timeless lessons, conveyed with patient repetition in wave after wave of unceasing beauty and rhythmic motion.
For some stunningly beautiful photographs of the ocean as seen from Antarctica,
see this post from Cindy Knoke!
This post was originally published seven years ago today. You can view the original with comments here.
- Posted in: Uncategorized
- Tagged: balance, calm, contemplation, hope, meditation, nature, ocean, sea, serenity, stability, stillness, wisdom
Defeat Despair 
I actually saw this book yesterday and remembered your recommendation. Should have grabbed it.
You can get digital copies of it (audio and ebook formats) for free at your local library! (** This public service announcement brought to you by your friendly, though slightly bossy, retired librarian.)
I found it. ” Today i am too anxious, too impatient and too greedy. ” The e-book is always checked out- for some reason.
That’s a true classic, when there is a lot of demand for it at the library even this many decades after it was first published. It’s timeless. If you like it, you might enjoy reading Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s journals. They are fascinating and her (written) voice is very appealing.