I read something interesting the other day that likened life to a boat with rowers.
When four rowers are in a boat, with their backs to the bow, their simple office is to pull the oars. The steersman's office is to look ahead and work the helm. The moment that the rower turns steersman, and tries to look over his shoulder or outpull his fellow oarsman, the boat loses headway. So you and I are placed with our backs to the future. In our hands are the oars of Christian endeavor. Let God steer the boat, and let us attend to the oars. T. L. Cuyler
Earlier I had heard the idea that most times we think of time as a continuum where it moves from the past to the future, with the impetus from the past, pushing us forward, but the speaker said, we should think about it as God drawing us into our future. So it's not a push from the past, but a pull from the future. Well, anyway, I liked that concept.
You should know by now that I take a bit from here and a bit from there and somehow it gets put back together again, sometimes in a new way.
As I thought about these passages today, I thought we really don't want to turn our back on the future. We need to embrace it. It happens anyway, whether we want it to or not. So we might as well work to make it as interesting and enlightening as possible.
And then I thought, the only time we really have is this present moment. Even the future when it comes is only another present moment, so it's important to be present in that moment whether then or now.
And then I thought of that boat again. While the rowers have their backs to the front (future), they are pulling toward the future. If they reversed their positions and faced forward, they would be pulling to the back.
It reminded me of times when I took a rowboat out as a child and rowed it at one of the lakes in Michigan, probably Big Star Lake or Gun Lake. It's a lot harder than it looks, especially when you are a child.
Here where I live we see many kayak teams practicing on the river. There is a beauty to their symmetry. When done right, or with the proper preparation or experience and practice, it looks effortless. (And they face forward and pull forward.)
Anyway, I thought that every present moment we are really pulling to the future. And yes, it might be hard, but it's the only way to move forward. And sometimes it is as beautiful and effortless as those kayakers.
Karin
Originally posted 2007-03-28 21:17:53.
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