Facing My Waterloo

Dan Snow reminds me that today is the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. On 18^th June 1815 the Duke of Wellington’s weak and ill-equipped army of British, German, Dutch and Flemish soldiers faced Napoleon Bonaparte’s mighty French army at Waterloo, a few miles south of Brussels.

Despite repeated assaults from the French infantry, cavalry and artillery Wellington’s men held firm. They were joined by Blücher and the Prussian army and eventually, as the Abba song reminds us, ‘At Waterloo Napolean did surrender.’  

Today, to ‘face your Waterloo’ means to face… a crisis in life that’s unavoidable… a problem that’s difficult to master… someone who’s strong and powerful…

Musing on three possible responses when facing my Waterloo:

Determined non-surrender: Facing his Waterloo Wellington kept going, despite the power of his enemy, despite continuing stress and personal loss…

I think of friends facing their Waterloo… Challenging health conditions, personal grief and bereavement, abusive relationships. There’s the intentional decision to keep going whatever the opposition… to be strong, determined, resilient…

Resigned surrender: Facing his Waterloo Napoleon eventually had to surrender. He recognised that he had no alternative.

I think of friends facing their Waterloo… Forced to accept the undesired, the uncomfortable… the divorce or redundancy, the inability to have children, the need for residential care. There’s the reluctant decision to accept and give in to the inevitable

Willing Surrender: Facing their Waterloo Abba are willing to surrender and give in to the overwhelming forces of love and fate:

Waterloo, I was defeated, you won the war
Waterloo, promise to love you forevermore
Waterloo, couldn’t escape if I wanted to
Waterloo, knowing my fate is to be with you

I think of friends facing their Waterloo… The new transforming relationship… the long-awaited wedding… the birth of the long-awaited baby… rediscovered love that had previously been despaired of… There’s joyful, willing acceptance.

Today I’m praying, for myself and my friends, that, facing our Waterloo, we shall have the strength and wisdom to make the correct response.