When I was 21, my boyfriend and I went to the mountains with another couple for several days. While we were there, we went tubing on a river. I had a strange feeling about going that day, but my daring nature ignored it. For a while the rapids were minimal with long stretches of quiet water gently pulling our innertubes along. Our guide warned us the rapids would increase, which they did. As we approached a large expanse of rapids followed by a waterfall with a steep drop (six feet or so), he explained the way to navigate it and make it through the massive surrounding boulders. I listened intently and did my best to follow his instructions, but I ended up almost losing my life.
The waterfall crashed over me, the innertube disappeared, and I tumbled over and over beneath the power of the water, hitting my head on one of the giant boulders we were supposed to miss. I recall the fear, the adrenaline, and the feeling of being trapped, tumbling in circles beneath the onslaught of the river’s power.
My life passed before my eyes, scene after scene, snapshots of my 21 years. Then, the fear evaporated into stillness, and I was sure it was the end. In that moment, I felt a hand pulling me out of the tumult and lifting me to safety. I don’t know how long I was under that water, but when they got me to shore I was as pale as starlight, shivering and cold despite the hot day, and deeply in shock.
I share this story to remind us all that there is always a hand reaching out to us to pull us back from the brink when we truly need it. Sometimes that hand is invisible. It is the strength of the ancestors or the love and light of angels. Sometimes that hand comes in the form of prayers sent with love.
Sometimes we are the ones asked to hold out our hands and help one another rise beyond circumstance. And sometimes we are just meant to hold the hand of a dear one going through something we cannot fathom. May we take hold of that hand when we are in need and offer our own when our kindred spirits require our kindness.
© copyright 2024 Lillian D. Henderson
“We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another.”
—Luciano De Crescenzo
