Another point from Sanborn.... He writes of going on a cruise with wife, and speaking with the captain. The captain said he'd been in ninety-foot waves. With sufficient power in the watercraft, negotiating such waves apparently wasn't great trouble. The ship could handle pretty much all of it if faced head-on. But if it lost power -- or if the captain lost focus -- it would drift parallel to the waves and be capsized or swamped.
He uses this illustration to distinguish between waiting and drifting. Like a ship, sometimes we encounter "storms" in our own lives which impede progress and even threaten our well-being. At times like these, it is often right to engage in focused waiting. The storm will eventually pass, and we'll come out the other end, again moving forward through calmer seas.
"Drifting and waiting are very different things. Waiting is an intentional choice. It requires patience and deliberation. Drifting takes away [gives away?] your power of choice."
To wait is sometimes the most appropriate action; to drift never is.
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