Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Day 2: Maintenance

I'm still thinking about this boat imagery. When I was growing up, my Dad was a lobsterman. Every year around this time, just as the weather was warming up, Dad would pull his boat out of the water for a week to repair it. I never told him (I was a boy & makeup crazy pre-teen, so we didn't talk much about lobstering in those days) but that time out of the water always scared me.

Here's the thing: I've never been great at conceptualizing large numbers of anything, so I was a little fuzzy on how many lobsters he had to catch to keep a family of our size in back-to-school shoes. But it seemed clear that the number was HUGE, and that there were a finite number of crustaceans out there on the ocean floor for the catching. So taking his boat out of the water seemed absurd to me. Why risk a week of no lobsters? "So what if the paint on the hull is chipped and the engine needs tuning?" I thought. "The most important thing is being out there!"

Now though, I get it. (Dad has been retired for years, and I'm sure he'll be happy to hear that I've finally come to terms with the finer points of his profession...) If you don't take care of your boat, your whole operation is at risk. Wood rots, engines die...the cost of replacing things you haven't taken care of is far higher than a week out of the water. (BTW, I tried to get a picture of a boat in dry dock to illustrate this post, but mostly what I found was pics of boats run aground, which is an entirely different thing...)

Today, let's ask God if we need to pull our boats out for repairs. This might be literal--stepping back from our busy schedules for a few days to tend to our physical/mental/emotional/spiritual upkeep. Or it might be more of an internal thing, where we tweak some area of our lives that's showing signs of wear. Or--who knows?--some of us might be in great shape, ready to head out onto the seas and pull in a big catch. As we pray today, let's give God a chance to weigh in on that, and let us know what's going on under the water, so to speak, in the places we can't see.

(And out of the kindness of my heart, I'll spare you the Southern Cross video I'm watching right now, because I can't possibly keep up 40 Days of Boating Songs...and because I don't understand why Graham Nash, one of my favorite singers ever, is wearing that weird striped shirt?)

Here's the link to yesterday's prayer outline (scroll down to the bottom).

And today's quote is my all-time favorite, Jesus' reminder that "What is impossible with man is possible with God." Nice to know that if we need to take time out for repairs, it won't throw off God's plan.

8 comments:

Pat said...

I woke up this morning, asking God "What's next?" . I think joining you for the next 40 days may give me that answer.
I'm in!!

kim said...

I have no idea whether I need to pull in for repairs or venture out into the water. Just said a prayer for guidance. Thanks for the great metaphors, Trish.

Sarakastic said...

Wow what an incredible way to grow up, definitely lots of insights there.

larramiefg said...

Yet since God has a plan, I wonder how far we'd get if we just drifted? Think many take that ride.

LBN said...

Sigh. $300 worth of literal car repairs today makes it hard for me to take in the metaphor. :-P I wish my 2004 Honda Civic at least caught lobsters!

Anna said...

The book "Prayer" by Philip Yancy is a great read on prayer, God, plans, drifting and many other questions we tend to have re: "does prayer work?" Really insightful.

Ouch on the $300 car bill!

Rachaelita said...

I just finished up a demanding year of graduate school and internship, so this metaphor of "taking the boat out of the water" seems to fit right now. I find I'm "leaky" in terms of trusting my finances with God at the moment, whereas in my romantic life, I definitely feel like God has been completely reconstructing the boat!

KimberlyH said...

After a crazy hectic few months of over-extending myself this spring, I do feel like a need to take some extra time out for repairs.
A week ago or so, I felt like it would be good, albeit difficult, to take a break from facebook & Twitter. I wasn't sure for how long. A few days after that I saw Trish's invite to this 40-day journey, knew I really wanted to do it, and felt like my "fast" was to go with it as well!