Sometimes my role as their chaplain was just to be the crew’s cheerleader. After a long day of complicated evolutions, my job was to be there to encourage them and be their biggest fan. This prayer was part of that effort after one of those days.
Yesterday was a pretty busy day, and I confess that the RAS (Refueling at Sea) looked like one of the most complicated I’ve yet seen. I discovered during the debrief that it was even more complicated than I’d thought, yet throughout the evolution, wherever I was and with whomever I spoke, everyone conducted themselves well and professionally and calmly (except for maybe CHENG (the chief engineer) who got a little excited). Because of that a very long and trying evolution was conducted safely and effectively, even though it was hard.
Which reminds me of a scene in one of my favorite movies, one I try to watch every year before Opening Day of the Major League Baseball season, “A League of Their Own.” It tells the story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1940s.
In the movie, when star catcher Dottie wants to quit and go home because of the grind of the games, and the growing tension between her and her sister, and trying to hold the team together, she tells her manager Jim Dugan that “it just got too hard.”
Dugan replies “it’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”
What you all do is hard, even when you make it look easy. So if you’re tempted to think that no one notices the hard work you are doing, let me assure you that I see it, the chain of command sees it, and so do all the folks back home. And when you feel like giving up because things get too difficult, remember the many people, like me and my family, who are grateful to all of you for choosing to do the hard things that not all of us can do.
Remember: “The hard is what makes it great.”
LET US PRAY
Almighty God, You call us into many circumstances that we neither expect nor feel prepared for, and often it is difficult for us to see just how we will manage. But we know that you will never place us in circumstances without also providing what is necessary and you will meet all of our needs according to Your glorious riches, because You are faithful always, now and forever, and to the ages of ages.
AMEN
An Orthodox Priest Abroad 