Having lived my entire life in the Midlands, spending time by the sea is always special.
On a recent holiday to Cornwall, known for its surfing beaches, there was one day where the sea was like glass. Sat enjoying the sunshine, I was people watching. Near me, exploring the rocks, sea-snails and mini caves in the cliff face, was a young family with a toddler in the cutest little wetsuit. When they were ready to move off, the mum lifted her paddle board from the sand, out into shallow water, and the dad carried the little girl out to her. I watched them paddle gently across the bay, the little one safely snuggled within her kneeling mother’s legs, dad striding through the lapping tideline in t-shirt and shorts, clearly not a boarder himself, but happy to support his wife and encourage his daughter.
As I watched them leave, it struck me – having never lived by the sea – that water pursuits weren’t available to me during my childhood and would have needed serious time and financial commitment to pursue in adulthood.
It’s funny, the course of our lives, the hobbies and interests we choose or fall into. For many of us life just somehow happens, jobs and relationships included.
Sometimes I find that thought scary, at other times reassuring. I am blessed to have ‘found’ Jesus at an early age and he has always been a part of my conscious life decisions, but I often wonder if I am reliant on God in the wrong way at times? Verses like Jeremiah 29:11
‘I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'
can be very reassuring at times, but does that make us complacent? ‘If I trust God, he’ll do it, he’ll sort my life out, I don’t need to do anything’?
The Christian life is a partnership. In many ways an unequal one, but in ways that matter, actually it’s very balanced. Going back to my paddle-boarding mum, the little girl – nestled securely as she was – had a little fishing net which she was dipping in the water. The mum couldn’t fish (even if there had been anything to catch) because her hands were tied up in paddling, her concentration in steering and keeping the board upright, her daughter safe. It was down to the child to fish; dangle her fingers in the water; gaze adoringly up at her mum; or just chatter away, enjoying the moment. It’s the same between us and God: he keeps the board afloat, steering in the right direction, and watching out for our safety, but then he encourages us into action or relaxation from that position of security.
‘Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans,’ John Lennon sang. Maybe. Or maybe LIFE is what happens when we trust God and his plans.