Lessons From the Canoe....

I think I am going to begin this post with a story, so bear with me....

A young girl...okay maybe she is not so young...takes a canoe trip.... 

Alright, you got me.... it's me!! 

Moving on...

This canoe trip is not a long one, but one down a beautiful river in hopes of having some peaceful time to draw closer to the Lord.

So I take the first step and get into the canoe without tipping it over and boy did I feel a sense of relief and accomplishment! Honestly that was my biggest worry!

Now I am ready to begin the peaceful float. The scenery is beautiful, the sun is warm, and the water beautiful.

But I quickly learned something... It's REALLY hard to canoe if it is windy.

It's not long before I reach a turn in the river where I was taken by surprise. The wind whips around  and whoosh!!  My canoe spins! 

Suddenly I am completely turned around and going down the river backwards.

I tried and tried to turn it, but every time I would get seemingly close the wind would spin me again. Luckily for me I had brought my phone to listen to some music, so I texted a friend that I knew had more canoe knowledge than myself and asked for some advice.

Following the advice I was able to get more control and get turned around. But...I was continuously caught by wind and had to repeat the whole turning process a gazillion more times.

I finally made it to the landing area and was able to get out of the canoe without tipping it over!! But boy was it far from the peaceful trip I had anticipated! It was rough :)

After the trip I remembered a scripture that I had read a couple of days before...It is from Psalm 31:21....

Blessed be the Lord,

    for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me

    when I was in a besieged city

I kinda felt like my canoe trip was closer to being in a besieged city than the peaceful float I had hoped for. I looked up the definition for besiege and it is - to surround, overwhelm.

Yuppers...definitely closer to that!!

I started to think about the fact that sometimes we see things differently when we are overwhelmed. Sometimes it's easy to get so focused on the battle that we lose sight of what is all around us and the many ways God is wondrously showing His steadfast love to us!

Like on my canoe trip... I was fighting so hard that for a while I forgot  to take time and behold the beauty of creation that I was passing through!  

It was there all of the time, but I was missing it.

Also, had the wind not tired me out and whipped me around, I would have missed the wondrous view I had of a huge, bald-eagle sitting behind me watching :)

I would have also missed being able to hear! You see, my intent was to use my phone and blare my worship music during the ride, but I can't concentrate well when I have music playing. Thus when the wind sent my trip in a different direction, I took out my earbuds. What I was blessed to hear was silence!!

And it was also because of that silence that I was then able to hear the rustling of the brush and see a huge deer hiding and watching! :)

All of this was just a great encouragement for me and a reminder....that when I am in a city or stage of life where I am being besieged or overwhelmed I need to remember that sometimes that is the best time and way for me to see God's wondrous, steadfast love.

A reminder to slow down and look at what I am passing through and to see the beauty.

A reminder to allow myself to be turned around and see where I am coming from...not just where I am headed.

A reminder that sometimes I need to take out the earbuds and listen to God in the silence.

A reminder that sometimes the way He wants to love on us with a wondrous, steadfast love is through our being in a city under siege.