Ponderings On The Water

“Then they saw Jesus walking on the water and coming near the boat and they were terrified.” Mark 6:19

As I took a cruise across the Peace River, God spoke to me through the water. On my way to the boat, I heard on the radio the song, “Footprints on the water.” I smiled as I thought about where I was going. Would I see Jesus’ footprints on the water today? Well, God shows up everywhere and today was no exception.

First, the sun came out for the first time this week, and it was a beautiful trip across the water. God spoke in the beauty. As I watched the rough waters and some white caps, I thought about how life has its rough times even when we are moving forward. As we cruised, dolphins joined us from time to time swimming beside the boat and jumping through the waves. They just glided gently through the water and seemed to love showing off and jumping out of the water.  I thought of how even in the rough times of life, God brings moments of joy and laughter even in our grief and sadness. It is good to smile in our tears and recognize there is good even in the tough moments of life. It is not all bad. It is not all good either, but God is always good and always present even when we doubt.

We had taken the cruise to an island that we had never explored. We were given a map and told when to return to the marina for the trip back across the water. Not knowing what the adventure would bring, we moved forward. Made some choices that could have gone better but we survived and learned our way. This reminded me of the Journey of grief.  We start where we have never been and try to figure out the next steps. We take some choices that as we look back now could have been better, but we learned and grew. We encountered some helpful people along the way and some who were just present. On the island I encountered some friendly and helpful people and others who were lost or who just ignored me. That is life.

On our way home, I noticed that the captain kept his eye on two fixed objects on the horizon and steered the boat toward the objects. While he used all the instruments on the boat, those objects were key to keeping him focused and going straight.  The captain could have steered all over the water, but he had to follow his depth finder to keep him from sand bars and shallow water. The captain kept his eyes on the horizon and the goal.

In our grief, we feel we go all over the place and run aground on sand bars and have no focus or direction. When we fix our eyes on Jesus, the water may still be rough but we have someone with us in the waves of grief. Jesus will take our hand when we cry out to Him. In my grief, the water has been rough, but Jesus has been present. Jesus has left footprints on the Water to guide my path on the rough waters.

As we ponder where we are in life today, look around and see how far you have come and follow the footprints that will continue to guide your way.  Pondering is a good way of looking at life.