Burning the Ships!

By James Kissinger

I recently came across the story of the Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortes. I vaguely remembered it from a world history class I had in college, but like most 19 year olds I was just there for the credits and didn’t take too much away from the lessons that history can teach us. In 1519 Cortes and his men landed in Mexico with an armada of eleven ships. He was singular and focused on his mission: to conquer the Aztecs and claim their vast treasures for himself and his native Spain. He wasn’t sure of the size of the task at hand, but for Cortes failure truly was not an option.  And so he took a drastic step. After the ships were unloaded, he ordered his men to row back out to the fleet and set each ship on fire. There would be no escape if the fight was too hard, he and his men would conquer the enemy or die trying. He was committed to success at any cost, even his very life. It gave them the measure of determination needed for victory. He succeeded in his mission.

All too often we leave our ships in the harbor, having an escape route planned in the back of our mind if the fighting proves too hard. Our “enemy” can take many forms:  a boss who is overbearing, a friend who seems self-absorbed, a spouse who doesn’t understand our needs, a child who turns their back on the values we’ve tried to teach them. And so we retreat.  Perhaps slowly at first, finding a bunker along the way from which we regroup and reengage in the battle. But in the back of our mind, we can see our ship waiting to carry us to “safety,” and as each battle is lost we retreat further and further until finally we find ourselves at the water’s edge, wondering how we got there. And so we sail away, another war lost, another relationship severed.

There’s a song by Warren Barfield that’s very dear to me. I heard the song and held onto the words during a time my wife and I were at the water’s edge. The song is called “Love Is Not a Fight.” Here are the lyrics:

Love Is Not a Fight – Warren Barfield

“Love is not a place
To come and go as we please
It’s a house we enter in
And then commit to never leave

Lock the door behind you
Throw away the key
We’ll work it out together
Let it bring us to our knees

Love is a shelter in the raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
If we try to leave, may God send His angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it’s something worth fighting for

To some, love is a word
That they can fall into
But when they’re falling out
Keeping that word is hard to do

Love will come to save us
If we’ll only call
He will ask nothing of us
But demand we give our all

I will fight for you
Would you fight for me?
It’s worth fighting for.”

That message helped me reengage during a time I didn’t want to fight. I wanted to step onto my ship and sail away. But I didn’t. I burned my ship. I reengaged in the battle. What ships are sitting in your harbor waiting to take you away?