"Into Deep Waters You Draw Me"

I stopped by the lake this morning and walked along the shore. As I stepped out onto the pier, I noticed two white round objects wiggling around under the surface of the water. As I got closer I determined that these egg-like objects were in fact two golf balls. I was mesmerized by the motion of the waves and their effects on the golf balls and so I stood and watched as if on a photo safari. The waves would come in crashing and dashing about on the surface of the water. And the golf balls would move a little to the left and then maybe a little to the right. They would be propelled toward the shore and then again away from the shores edge and back toward the deep. 

I began to notice that the further away from shore they went and the deeper the water was the more gentle and fluid their movements became. As they eventually made their way back to the shallow water they were once again dashed about more frantically. The golf balls never went onto the sandy beach and they never quite made it far enough away as to disappear into the deep blue of the lake. There seemed to be a balance of push pull in this little dance. The waves would fight to bash the balls toward the shoreline and the undercurrent would gently but powerfully will them back again. And it made me think of my relationship with God.

God gently keeps nudging me to deeper waters. And I keep running away every chance I get. Because in the deep there is the unknown and the darkness. It can be a scary place if one feels all alone. So to the false security of the shallow waters is where I turn. And yet like the golf balls, there is a calmness and a steadiness to be found in those deep waters. And I know that the Light is to be found there within the darkness. And I am asked to trust.

"I will lead the blind
    by a road they do not know,
by paths they have not known
    I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
    the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do,
    and I will not forsake them."

-Isaiah 42:16 NRSV 

MP Marilyn Panco

Clague Pier, Westlake, Ohio 

September 16, 2016 8:15am