by I used to live near a park that had a lake and a small jetty. I would walk there by the water and out on the jetty when I needed to think, when I needed a break from my life and time to breathe. A few moments alone. I could walk and think and look out over the water. Seeing the vastness of the lake was calming and reassuring.
I was on the verge of making a big decision in my life that would have major repercussions. It was something that could not be taken back once decided. I had been thinking about it for about two years. In distress, I walked to the park. It was early fall and the air smelled of it. I walked to release stress and I looked out over the water knowing that whatever I did in my life, this place would still be here and still be the same tomorrow and the next day and the next. The lake was calm.
I asked for a sign. I prayed for a sign to help me move forward. I saw a single fish leap out of the lake and quickly return under its depths. The leap made many circles of water outward interrupting the calm of the lake’s surface. I thought, is this my sign? Am I to take that leap knowing that it will be disruptive and far-reaching like the circular wake of the fish who had leaped? I noticed that eventually and in its own time, the lake water became calm again. A jump, a change of disruption long reaching, but then tranquility regained. Was this a symbol for me? A metaphor to leap and know that it would make ripples but that they would dissipate and a balance would return. Was I reading too much into this “sign”?
I prayed again. The exact same thing happened in the exact same place. One fish. One jump. Ripples. Time. Calm. I knew that I had gotten my sign, and I moved forward.
