Check out this incredible psalm and then come back. . . Psalm 118
For the past five years or so, my friend Pamela has been teaching me to sail. I still could never do it alone but with her as the skipper I feel fine about it! I trust her. . . she urges me to "do" what comes naturally (though when learning such a complex thing as sailing, nothing comes naturally at first, but then again there's a certain feel to it that just might be called "intuition"). When I get stuck in a cross wind she helps me get out of it, when I'm doing it right she simply smiles at me and the look on her face tells me all I need to know-- that all is going well.
I could never learn to do what I need to do in that boat if we left it at the dock, moored in its own personal slot, tied to the metal fasteners that keep it from drifting backward into the marina wall. When it's time to head out, we climb on board, one of us and then the other and we unfasten those lines that keep the boat in its safe place. We toss the ropes onto the stern itself and onto the sides of the boat where they stay until it's time to return.
(Once Pamela got stuck between the boat and the dock and said ever-so-gently "I need help." It was the softest sound ever coming from her lips but in a swell of adrenaline I almost picked her up out of the precarious position she found herself in. We still laugh about that today;
point is, she needs me sometimes too!)
Thing is. . . in order to get out there onto the wide water, you have to release the lines that keep the boat moored. There is safety ashore to be sure. . . but little adventure, unless you consider watching those guys with the big yachts and little dogs wash their boats. I want to feel the wind in my hair. . . I want to be tilted so far into the wind that I'm almost sitting on the water. . . I want to race across the clear glass with my eyes on the destination. . . it's time for me to let go of the safety and security of that dock and get sailing.
God is with me. . . he has answered the deepest prayers of my heart. . . the fear, the darkness, the uncertainty, the turning away of those who disapprove of the course. . . who disapprove of me. . .
"With the Lord on my side I do not fear. . . The Lord is on my side to help me. . . It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in princes."
I'll be alright. . . don't worry, the Lord has gotten me safe thus far by faith. . . wild waters will not overtake me, but it's time to stop clinging to the shore of old ways, the old structures that I once knew and was comfortable with. . . it's time to not look back any more, to embrace the adventure to which God has called me to this day.
Image Credit: igkt.net
There are so many things to consider ... the knowns about the craft -- its size, its rigging, its temperament. There are so many unknowns... the wind, the waves, sometimes the prevailing "spirit" of the people on board. Bottom line, we need to pay attention, we need to stay rooted in humility and trust that there is a force larger than us at work. But yes, in order to sail you do need, eventually, to "cast off".
ReplyDeleteI think that is why we are called to say at those most decisive moments: Yes, and I ask God to help and guide me.