Monday 23 March 2009

Row, Row, Your....Surf board??

The sunshine has made its debut on the Costa Blanca. And the tourists are beginning to trickle into town.

I was taking my laundry off the line and saw this guy out there. What is he doing? I don't know...standing on a surf board with a paddle. But that's not the point, the point is: look at that balance!

Watching him paddle away out to the open sea, all I could think about was how hard it must be to stay upright on a surfboard like that.

Balance can be a tricky thing. I made a mental list of all the things that my life requires balancing:

school birthday parties...who to tell yes, and who to tell no....there are 2 this week!
pay checks....must the boys eat 3 times a day?
never ending laundry
church members needs....real vs. irrational
community needs....real vs. irrational
not to mention my need to finish the "Mark of the Lion" series by Francine Rivers :)

I may not be on a surf board, but sometimes it does feel just as hard.

Thankfully the truth is:

Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall.
Psalm 55:22

5 comments:

Kelly said...

Life is a balancing act for sure. Luckily we are NOT up the creek without a paddle, but have God rowing us in the right direction. With him...life is but a dream!
:-)

My ADHD Me said...

Balance...I REALLY need to keep it in perspective!

(wow..that guy really had good balance!)

Sue J. said...

I hold my arms up and do the balance scale move every now and again. I think I need to revisit that whole concept. Life really shouldn't be a balancing act--it still puts the onus on us to carry things.

The verse you reference puts everything into its proper perspective. It should not be us balancing on a board. If we have cares, we should cast them upon Him, who can tell us what we should be doing!

The more accurate picture we should be pursuing is the "equally yoked" model--us doing the work He tells us to do, and Him doing the rest, so that we both walk together!

Personally, I think the guy is on a sandbar! I'm not sure his knees are even bending!!

Eric said...

Hey Jeff glad to finally catch you on your blog. Being a surfer for almost 30 years now I can really identify with your observation!
Although I have never tried stand up paddle surfing I am told it is quite tricky at first but actually a more advantageous position to catch waves. In fact the ancient polynisians surfed in this manner.
But balancing life I would say is 100 times more difficult than surfing. Because peoples lives are at stake when balancing on the "Waves" of life. I know this is heavy but our children's future and their eternal future hang in the balance as well as the souls of our congregations, and communities. But thank God we don't have to ride any "Wave" bigger than we can handle!

Beverlydru said...

In the natural realm, I have terrible balance. I need to work on that. Thank God, in the spiritual realm with Jesus at the helm, I've learned a thing or tow about balance. Love this post.