Today I decided that this house is stifling. Let’s be honest, with the option of the tv or a nap given to me over spending time with God, I’ll make the wrong choice. So I left.
We have a lake in our neighborhood and my mom got a kayak for mother’s day, so that’s where I was headed. With the mind set of “this is God time”, I put my boat in the water and immediately started thinking about all the other things I had to do. Typical.
I shook my head, “This is not why I came here”, and began to paddle. Not knowing where I was headed, I decided that everytime I came to an inlet I would turn left (that way it would be easier to find my way back out of the maze of inlets that makes up Lake Montclair).
I paddled by houses and docks, small children playing and laughing, old men fishing; you’re typical suburban watering hole. I took one more left turn and like a magic trick, it was all gone. I found myself in the only untouched land left in Northern Virginia. If it weren’t for the faint barking of a dog and a lost basketball floating past me, I would never have guessed I was still in my neighborhood. I had never seen so much wildlife in one place at one time, granted it was suburban wildlife, but wildlife nevertheless. There were massive grey birds, more turtles than I could count, and I swear a beaver tried to jump in my kayak.
There was no doubt in my mind that this little sanctuary of chirping birds and massive trees was set aside for me to find. So being the ridiculous over thinker I am, instead of listening to God, I started coming up with the possible lessons I am supposed to learn here. “Well, maybe since it’s so quite I’m supposed to learn to just be still.” (Being still is kind of what got me in this state of apathy in the first place.) “Well, the turtles are sun bathing on the logs, maybe I should bask in the glory of the Son.” Seriously, these were the thoughts going through my head. Now don’t get me wrong, these are good lessons, if you aren’t trying to shove them down your own throat. After acknowledging how ridiculous I was being, I decided to just start talking to God. Being that it has been quite a while since I’ve done this, I felt like a babbling fool, “Uh… God… yeah… I don’t really know what to pray about… this place is cool, so thanks for that.” You get the picture.
Again realizing how ridiculous I was being, I really felt like the only reason I found myself there was to enjoy it and enjoy the time I was spending with God. So I kicked back and aimlessly floated down the inlet babbling simple prayers and praise. Before I knew it, I had been there for an hour and it was time to head home.
So this is not a story of revelation or divine intervention or whatever, it’s really just an update to let you all know how I was doing and to say thanks for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers.
