This last weekend Chris and I had a little weekend away. As usual we like to seek out adventure and hopefully not get ourselves into too much trouble. This trip was a typical one for us, it did not disappoint on the adventure side of things. One of the days we set out to kayak in the Gig Harbor area, more specifically between Raft Island and Cutts Island. As many of you get to know me you will realize I like a challenge and, regardless if I may possibly get hurt or end up exhausted after that challenge, I still forge ahead and finish what I started. The day was a beautiful sunny day, which doesn’t happen often in that area this time of year so we knew we were off to a good start. While the journey to the Cutts Island was nice and easy we realized quickly that we spent a lot of time on the island and when we left it was low-tide. That meant the water had receded enough that we had to drag our kayaks through mud and slosh for over a mile. All the while having mud come up through our shoes, switching from hand-to-hand as our grip on they kayaks got a little more difficult, and looking at the horizon wondering if we would ever get to where we needed to dock the kayaks.
I share this story today because at times life can be just like our little adventure out to Cutts Island. In life God often provides us with a beautiful sunny pathway and we, in our own humanness, choose to turn back in a direction that wasn’t God’s plan. When we rely on our own judgment to make these decisions we may end up dragging ourselves through the muddy uneven path. Jesus even had to remind his disciples and his followers of this when he shared the parable of the wise and foolish builders.
“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” Luke 6: 46-49
This week will you call on the Lord and do what he has to say? Dragging those kayaks through the mud for over a mile reminded me of those times when I wanted to go my own direction in life instead of listening and doing what God has been telling me to do. Listening to our Heavenly Father makes life easier to bear. Even if we do come across those low-tide moments in life, if he is in the center of it he can help us carry those heavy things that we cannot bear alone.