Just days after Christmas, I took my final ferry trip of the year. After several days on a most pleasant business trip, I was heading home. In view of having a totally relaxing experience I’d chosen to take the bus; not only was it less expensive, it was less stressful than driving up British Columbia’s winding Sunshine Coast. The water was flat and I looked forward to a non-eventful 50 minute sailing. After exiting the bus, I hurried up to the passenger deck, grabbed a cup of tea in the café and then seated myself next to a portside window. Shortly afterwards I heard the engines kick in and with a shudder the ship began to back out of the dock. There was nothing extraordinary about it; in fact, it couldn’t have been more ordinary.
That’s when I heard the delightful voice of an excited little boy, “Daddy, look!” he called, “Look, the water’s moving.”
I instinctively looked out to confirm what I already knew: although it was the ship that was in motion, to an inexperienced eye, it seemed as if the water was doing the propelling instead of the vessel’s engines. It definitely was a matter of perception.
Life can be a lot like that, a matter of perception. Viewing the chaos of world conditions and the all-too-frequent questions that living can bring, emotions can be mixed. What’s behind my current situation? Who’s in charge of these circumstances? Is it the boat or the water that moving all around me?
“The floods have lifted up, O Lord, The floods have lifted up their waves,” wrote one of the psalmists but then, in a declaration of praise he continued. “The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea!”
Come ship or sea, He reigns!
