After moving to the Carolina’s, our grandsons would spend time with us on the lake. Sometimes we would invite others to come hang out on the boat and play on the dock. We love sharing the fun with friends and family.
One of those times was a summer that we were experiencing a drought. The water level in the lake was down about twelve to fifteen feet. We would climb on the boat at the dock, then lower the boat into the water. It took much longer this year, and we had to be much more careful, making sure the cross bars holding the boat did not hit the bottom of the lake while launching the boat.
We invited a friend over to have her two kids and her niece and nephew to come enjoy the lake with my two grandsons and me. Once we got out on the lake, we lost all track of time. We played all day long on the boat. We had packed a lunch, and the kids all sat on the tube that we had been pulling behind the boat to eat their sandwiches. We realized that early that day we had run low on water on the boat. We made sure that the kids split what water we had left. As the day came to an end, from the lake we saw my daughter drive up. We headed for the dock to get the boat and our warn out crew out of the water. As my daughter slowly made her way down to the dock, we lifted the boat, and began unloading kids and all the paraphernalia that needed to come off the boat. As I was standing on the back of the boat, transferring the coolers and toys from the boat to the dock…. Everything went black. The next thing I knew I was under water and every part of my body hurt. I swam to the surface and heard my daughter yelling for me. Apparently, I had passed out, and fallen about fifteen feet, bouncing off the boat and the dock like a pinball. My daughter made sure I was okay, then we tried to figure out how to get me out of the lake. We had a ladder we could lower on the dock, but the water was so low, the ladder didn’t even touch the water. I had my daughter toss me my shoes, and I walked to the shore and had to climb up the ‘rip-wrap’, about twenty feet of medium sized jagged rocks that cover our steep shoreline. At the end of our fun day on the lake, we figured out I was dehydrated and had passed out while stepping off the boat and onto the dock. After several cups of cool water, everything was fine. My back was sore, and my cheek was scratched up from bouncing off the boat and the pier of our dock, but we felt very lucky that everything turned out okay.
It seems that in life, we tend to push ourselves beyond our limits, and forget to step back and take a breath and relax in the moment, and rest. We are constantly on the go, working hard, playing hard, and pushing ourselves. In doing this, sometimes we get so focused on getting our work done, having a great vacation, getting as much out of our day as possible, that we forget to stop and really enjoy where we are and what we are doing. God wants us to work hard, to push ourselves, but he also wants us to slow down and enjoy life.
“I keep the Lord in mind always. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad, and my spirit rejoices; my body also rests securely.” Psalm 16:8-9
