SWIMMING AGAINST THE CURRENT?

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)

ADULTING IS OVER-RATED!

Sometimes you just have to jump out of the rat race and hide in a fort blanket.

Or at a lake or beach and dive in with a belly board or build sandcastles.

What happened to the small things that brought us joy? (Ecc 3:4) Remember those?

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)

A few years ago, I was stuck in the worst rut of my life. Nothing was going right. And I knew I had to console with God on what to do.

I had no money and felt trapped at a lousy paying job with horrible management.

I am sure anyone reading this can relate.

Completely frazzled from work, stressed to the max with finances and at my wits end, I didn’t know what to do about my current crisis. (Luke 8:27) My soul was exhausted and hurt all the way through.  I decided to go to a secret quiet place that was now a rarely used canoe beach.  This was one of my nearby hiding spots when I was flat broke too.  The beach was my 1^st choice to build sand castles as I let the surf relax me, but I didn’t have gas to get there. I had not found a new job after searching a whole year, and things were getting worse.  So was my blood pressure. 

I felt cursed. Trapped. Oppressed. Depressed.

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. (Psalm 40: 1)

I needed a quick and cheap distraction, a disconnect from the everyday. Some days  I would pick up some bait and throw a fishing line into any decently clean water hole I could find, but I was too broke for bait as well.

I had only a few blank pages in a notebook with a pen, a book to read, and a folding chair. I also found a bottle of kid’s play bubbles in my trunk (from a family party). That would have to do today for a diversion.

The streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. (Zechariah 8:5)

I sat with my feet in the cool red cedar water, opened the bottle and started blowing as hard and fast as I could, putting out about a hundred bubbles into the air within minutes. Most of the bubbles flew into the wind, following the breezes down the water’s current.   Others just evaporated in the air immediately.  Still, some touched on the water’s surface and then rolled along the surface of red cedar water. (Psalm 40:2-3)

I blew out more, then sat and watched it all, enjoyed being disconnected from the world. But as I watched the bubbles roll on the water and follow along on the current, a very relevant truth occurred to me.

Just roll with it. Just wait.  

Simple, right?  Not really. I had been trying to follow the current and swim along in life too but I was swimming too hard in directions I wanted to go.  (Proverbs 16:9)

Some of the bubbles became stuck in a big damn in the far corner of a curve.  I felt that.  That was like me, snared in some branches in a dark cold corner. I had to get out of there sometime, as all water eventually does.

Then it dawned on me.  I have to listen and wait, not an easy thing for me.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope. (Psalm 130:5)

When the tide rises at the right time, the bubbles – or me – will rise over those branches and break free, run its course down that creek current.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)

In God’s time. One day at a time. One branch at a time.

And the bubbles stayed there a while.   So did I.

Cooled down, Calmed. Restored.

But those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength

(Isaiah 40:31)

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