Misadventures in Kayaking

The last time we went kayaking, it was Memorial Day!  This past Sunday provided an opportunity we couldn't pass up.  We headed out with friends to try a paddle in a pond attached to a large reservoir about an hour away from home.  The description in her book was enticing, no motor boats, eagles, pristine.  Following directions in a book and putting the address into two GPS, we did eventually find Gate 43, although my eyes were shut for a few miles while we went on what seemed like a toboggan ride over a dirt road through the woods!  Arriving at our destination, the ranger told us we were not allowed to use our own kayaks in an attempt to prevent the spread of invasive plants.  This information was not on the Government website nor in the paddle book.  Having kayaks on our cars, we did not want to shell out money to rent kayaks so we were directed to another pond not too far away.  This was a little disappointing, the brook leaving the pond was overgrown and not navigable.  We did spy a little thing swimming across a patch of lily pads.  My friend said snake, I said muskrat?  The men ahead of us said SQUIRREL.  It was too funny!  I wish I had had an unobstructed view to snap a picture.  The men made a valiant attempt to navigate a few channels into the marsh grass and succeeded in rousting out a heron.

Kayaking adventures continued Monday.  We dashed up the road after supper to a small pond, just to get a little time together while there was still some daylight, maybe see some beaver.  As we began to take the boats off the roof, my hubby groaned.  One of our paddles comes apart for easy packing and one is permanently stuck.  He had taken the stuck one out of the car so he wouldn't have the mud in the front seat on his commute to work.  It was still at home.  Two kayaks....one paddle.  No problem!!  It was different, but we managed with half a paddle each!  Canoe strokes were remembered and I appreciated the lighter weight of half a paddle.  So, not complete misadventures but certainly not the paddles we had visioned.

Stuck

Last fall, my sister and I spent a few days in New Hampshire.  It was a much needed escape from responsibilities, a chance for uninterrupted quilting, and take in a little shopping and a few short hikes.  While we were there, we decided to take on a challenge of memorizing the book of Colossians and reconvene a year later to recite the whole book.  I had found the challenge here ~ two verses a week with built in times of review.  Seemed very do-able.  Well, I do not want to admit defeat yet but I have a lot of ground to cover to catch up to my sister.  She is ahead of the game and should be all done mid-September as she had already committed a few portions to memory over the years.  I keep letting life get in the way.  Ok, I admit it.....I am TERRIBLY UNDISCIPLINED!!!!  I am a poor manager of time!!!  (That's putting it mildly)  I desire to come up with a schedule and stick to it ~ there is plenty of available time that I just waste.  I need to set aside just a few moments a day to memorize, exercise, and work on some special projects ~ transcribing my grandmother's journals for one.

So, I find myself STUCK in chapter two!!  I should be nearing the end of Chapter three by now or even further.  The middle of Chapter two hit me hard and so I was just stuck there ruminating.  Now, I'm just stuck.

 Colossians 2:6-7 ⁶ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Overflowing with thankfulness

It just hit me like a ton of bricks.  I arrived at this section just before graduation season and it was just perfect for my desire for high school graduates in particular.  So many young people who have professed a faith in Christ leave home and their church family and completely turn their backs on everything they know is right to experience what they think they are missing.  This is my desire for them that they would be strengthened in their faith and not be so weak as to walk away from it.  

But that last bit, overflowing with thankfulness.  How had I missed that??  Forty some-odd years and yet I guess I've just skimmed over that part, missed it completely!  So, I have been stuck this summer on "overflowing with thankfulness."  Rooted, grounded, strengthened in the faith, continuing to live in him all these years, YES!  But overflowing with thankfulness??  I must confess, I don't think my life reflects that at all.  So, here I find a challenge within a challenge.  While I need to get on with the memorizing and try to catch up with my sister so we can finish what we set out to do, I need to overflow with thankfulness!!  

Music for a Monday

Music for a Monday.....

This hymn has been swirling through me this morning.  I think it is the response of my soul to times of transition.  No transition for me other than an empty house while the Babymomma and her babes are visiting the other Grammy.  I guess I am feeling a dear friend's angst as her youngest heads to college.....and I think I am probably tuned in to my young warrior as he packs up for a big transition ~ a temporary leave or not being able to return? I'm not certain, but in between is an adventure in Africa, then packing up his stateside residence and relocating.  I am proud of him and so glad he is free enough to be able to pick up and move and stretch and grow but I also know that there is a piece of him that is churning and anxious and wondering if it will all work.  For both of these precious ones, I am praying that they would feel a blanket of peace over these next few days especially.