The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit . —Jesus (John 3:8)

Lying in a yellow float

The lake waves push me towards the shore

The rocks smooth underneath my feet when I stand

A few yards away my daughter puts her face in the water

Hoping to catch a glimpse of a fish

Her new contacts enabling her to see underwater for the first time

Her joy evident

My mom swims

Steady long strokes

Pushing against the current

My son comes out with his camera

Intent on capturing images

I feel the water gently push me

As I paddle deeper

Pushing me relentlessly

Towards shore

I reflect

So much pleasure to be found in water

Simply leaving the safety of land behind

For we are creatures of land

The depths of the lake beckon

And we take out the boat

Speeding wildly along the shore

Watching the houses go by

Like Lego miniatures

Such freedom

The wind flying strands of hair behind me like a pennant

If I wanted safety

I would stay on land

My feet firm against solid earth

But we venture out where fishes swim

We are the aliens in their midst

And it strikes me how the first followers of Jesus were fishermen

Making their living from the sea

When God called them back to land

and invited them to fish for something better

 

I watch the fisherman in his boat

In the middle of the lake off the deck where I now sit

This early morning

Listening to the sound of waves

Stirred by wind

Only making sound when they hit something unmoveable

like dock or boat or land

I have been a swimmer

in the vast ocean of God’s love

though my constant stroking

has worn me out

Now I float

Caught in the tide of his kindness

Surrendered to his love

Safe in the knowledge that he made both land and sea

Lord, help me to trust in the current of your Holy Spirit

Working in me