This past summer season, I have been introduced to a new hobby. Sailing! Yes, this indoors-loving movie-holic has found a new outdoor fun (Gasp!). Just look at photo I captured of a fellow sailor just a couple weeks ago on the lake. Beautiful shot taken just with a simple smartphone. No editing with Instagram, either. It was just this beautiful.
I thought sailing would be easy. Just get into the boat, hoist the sails, and let the wind push me. Little did I know, there is more to it. There is a way to set the sails to work with the current wind conditions. If a sailor is good, a sailboat can sail any direction, except directly into the wind. Seems easy, right? Well, it's all well and good until the winds shifts when we don't pay attention. On my first solo trip, I was sailing so well, back and forth on the lake several times, until... the wind shifted. I drifted along on the lake waiting for a gust to fill my sails enough to bring me back to shore. The ducks even came out to quack at me when I was stuck on the lake alone, drifting. Thankfully, I made it back without having to paddle it. Whew!
This made me reflect about God, and how he wants us to be useful. We could think of God's power as the wind, and the boat as us. He moves us, depending on how receptive we are to Him. In this way, I am thinking we should be setting our sails favorable to move the fastest and most efficiently in His work. If we don't hoist our sail, we won't move or be purposeful. If our sails are set opposite of the direction He moves, we won't be purposeful. Instead, we will be like the little drifting boat, moaning about how the wind died, when indeed, the wind (or God) had not died, or stopped moving, we just stopped paying attention to it.
So, what is the lesson here? We should pay attention to God's Word, seek Him, and we become much more in line with His purposes. We then move with a purpose, rather than drifting aimlessly.
"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously,
and He will give you everything you need." (Matthew 6:33 NLT)
