Who’s In Your Boat?

I’m the official laughingstock in my house as far as swimming goes. Mummy Shark and all her baby sharks are officially good swimmers. Medals and certificates hang proudly in our home and they keep coming. It seems I was in the spirit when I labelled my family as sharks. Swimming is a significant part of our weekly calendar. We wake up early for it, spend weekends on it and even eat in a way that will enhance our strokes. We even upgraded our Dstv package during the Olympics just to watch the swimming part. My family laughs at me because I’m the only one lagging. I often joke that I float best at the coast hehe. They don’t believe me but that’s a fact. I’m still good for something as I facilitate their swimming. I console myself that way. We could say I’m an angel investor hehe.

I’m glad that I have managed to be consistent in my early morning quiet time with myself and Sir God. I committed to it at the beginning of the year. Even though I’m often distracted in my mind on most mornings, I continue to show up. A thought might just drop followed by a penny hehe. Once in a while a word lingers and I like those moments. This Wednesday was one of those moments.

The scripture was from Mark 4: 39 – 40. It reads, “Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, “Quiet! Settle down!”. The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass. Jesus reminded the disciples: “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith at all?”

Jesus was heading to the other side of the sea with his crew when a storm descended on them and threatened to capsize their boat. As they all panicked, gripped by fear, Jesus was fast asleep. I know right? Only a guy like Jesus can sleep through a storm. I’d be in the group of cowards bila faith. The disciples woke him up and his response was like that of my baby sharks when woken up on a school morning. They get upset because their sweet sleep has been interrupted. He then went on to do what he does best, calm the sea and quiet the storm.

I imagined if the glass boat we take at the coast with my clan threatened to break apart while out at the coral reef. I’d be the most at risk because my entire family would joyfully swim with the beautiful multicoloured fish. But I’d have an inner hope that they would all keep me from drowning since they are good like that hehe.

So what’s my point here? It matters who is in your boat of life at two levels. Level one for me is Sir God. Whoever we relate to as our higher being needs to be in our boat. And if he’s sleeping in the boat it means we can too despite the storms around us. Life is generally messy and even more messy when in transitions. We need an anchor that holds sure otherwise we get shipwrecked. What’s your anchor folks? That which you can depend on when the sea of life is threatening to sink you.

The second level of occupants in our boat is family. And the fact that mine are all good swimmers is an added advantage hehe. Who do you consider your family? Are they in your lifeboat? Mum used to remind us that heavy-duty support can only come from family. I agree with her because, at the critical hour of need, many of us can testify that it was family (including friends who have become family) that threw us the life jacket to keep us from drowning.

We all want a good, sweet and easy life. And we live it often until the rough parch appears and we get uncomfortable. We enjoy being by the beach enjoying the breeze and view. But we get uncomfortable getting into the water, especially deep water. For me, it’s the point that’s deeper than where my feet can reach. That’s when I panic because I haven’t yet learnt to trust the water to hold me up. Life is partly on dry land, partly on the beach and partly in deep waters. That’s just how maisha is. We will smile some days, sweat on some and cry on others.

The difference to me comes when we are sure of what’s constant and who’s in our boat at such times. When life’s a beach (not sure pun intended) our boat tends to be crowded with folks enjoying sundowners with us. We need to be careful during those happy times because we can overload our lifeboat with too many so-called friends who will capsize it. But when life’s the other beach (pun intended) then we have fewer people on board. Mostly our near and dear ones plus sir God if we allow him. I’d rather have him asleep in my boat than not in it at all.

Folks this life is not for walking alone. Please select carefully who climbs into your boat because that may determine if you will drown or remain above water when the storm comes. And depending on your belief system I’d highly recommend having Sir God in your boat even when He comes with a pillow. He may be carrying it for you to lie on when things are tough. He will rock you to sleep when life is rocking your boat.