The inspiration for this month’s masthead comes from the movie Cast Away (2000) with Tom Hanks.  After being stranded on a remote tropical island for five years, convinced that he would die alone on that island, a chunk of plastic from a port-a-potty washed ashore and gave Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks’ character) a sail…and hope.  He created a raft and set out to sea.  The waters were rough, but finally he was rescued.  When he returned to land and his former life, he not only dealt with the trauma of reacclimating, but he also discovered that his fiancee had married another man and had a child.  On that island he thought he would never see her again, but after the hope of the rescue and then the disappointment of reality, he lost his love all over again.  Chuck Noland said to a friend:

One day logic was proven all wrong because the tide lifted, came in, and gave me a sail. And now, here I am. I’m back in Memphis, talking to you. I have ice in my glass. And I’ve lost her all over again. I’m so sad that I don’t have Kelly. But I’m so grateful that she was with me on that island. And I know what I have to do now. I have to keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?

I love how he finds gratitude in the midst of his mourning.  Whether we order it or not, life comes with some rough seasons.  It’s a package deal.  There are times that the gloom, the pain, or the stress of life’s winters can be overwhelming.  There is not always a logical, tangible explanation for the strength that we are given to endure and overcome these hard days, and some times it seems like we aren’t even succeeding at this.  But we can, and we will.  We have to keep breathing.  For tomorrow the sun will rise, and who knows what the tide could bring?