I recently reread a book I had read many years ago, that was an assigned book in one of my kids homeschool literature class. “Carry On Mr. Bowditch” by Jean Lee Latham, is a wonderful read of the life of Nathaniel Bowditch, who was a small boy at the end of the American Revolution. His mother passes away and at the old of twelve becomes an indentured servant until he is twenty-one. In his younger years, his teachers had viewed him as a mathematical genius, and encouraged him to go to Harvard to further his education. But when he becomes indentured, all hopes of attending Harvard go down the drain. By the time he was ‘free’ at twenty-one, he was considered much too old to be attending Harvard! Although a friend continuially told him he was ‘becalmed’, Nathaniel, or Nat as he is called, refused to give up hope and began to ‘sail by ash breeze.’
Since I’m a Dakota prairie girl, any sailing terms are pretty foreign to me. My Mom grew up near the coast in Maine, but on a dairy, not in a sailing family. Although I often remember her telling me when times were tough to, ‘Hang to the riggings,’ hold on, and don’t let the storm throw you overboard in other words. But the phrase, ‘sail by ash breeze’ was a new one for me. When you become, ‘becalmed’ or maybe more commonly said, have the 'wind knocked out of your sails’ there’s still another way to sail the sail boat. You sail by ash breeze. Most oars were made of ash wood, so if the wind isn’t blowing, pull out the oars and begin to sail. Sailing by ash breeze is a lot more work, but you still get there. In the case of Nathaniel in the story, he continued to study in all his spare time, and ended up teaching himself, Latin, French, and Spanish, plus navigation and all the mathematics it required. He ended up becoming a clerk and 2nd mate on a ship, and continued to study and work hard. He even taught many of the sailors on board navigation, and they were able to better their lives by getting better positions aboard ship. By the end of his life he was a Captain of his own ship. He was even given a degree by Harvard for all his scientific discovery in the area of navigation, even though he never set foot in a class room at Harvard. He continued his whole life ‘sailing by ash breeze.’ He truly learned that you 'can’t adjust the storm, but you can adjust the sails.'
So if life hasn’t turned out exactly the way you had hoped and planned, remember to ‘sail by ash breeze’ and 'hang to the riggings.’ Or translated into our prairie life, keep on plowing and never give up. There’s more than one way to accomplish your dream.
2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”