Adrift
Making Course Corrections
Introduction
Life is like sailing; it’s important to stay on course. Thank you for joining me in this issue of The Adventure of Reflection as I ponder the danger of going adrift, and the need to make course corrections.
A Minute of Motivation
Rudder of Truth; Wind of Love
Communication – what a tremendously challenging skill to acquire! It’s so easy to be misunderstood or to misunderstand what someone else is trying to communicate. A relationship built upon unclear communication is like a “ship” adrift in unpredictable and unstable waters.
How can a relationSHIP use communication to navigate through challenging seas? One important feature of any relationship is to have the rudder of truth. When you don’t know which way to go, move in the direction of honesty. Tear a hole in the hull of your relationship by lying and you may find yourself rapidly bailing water, trying to correct the damage – explaining, telling more lies, etc., until your relationSHIP is not going anywhere; you’re too busy trying to keep it from sinking. It’s important, therefore, to steer your relationSHIP with truth and honesty.
Blowing into the sails of your relationSHIP should be the wind of love, bringing life and joy into the journey. Love will help you know HOW to speak the truth, what words to use, and what time to present the truth to your ship-mate. Patience and understanding are two signs your relationSHIP is being pushed forward by love.
Remember to combine these two factors for effective communication in your relationSHIP – truth spoken in love. Steer with the rudder of truth, moving forward by the winds of love.
Note. Written in 1993 and preserved on dot-matrix printer paper. Published here because of the nautical theme of being adrift.
Enjoy Life More
Drop Anchor, then Set a Course
Summer is a good time to go floating – grab an inflatable tube or raft and drift in a creek or river. The outcome is predictable – you will end up at some point downstream. This type of drifting can be very relaxing and presents little danger.
Drifting in a sea or ocean, however, is quite dangerous. The currents might take a boat farther out to sea or slam it into a rocky shoreline. A ship without a way to control its direction or rate of travel puts its passengers at great risk.
Some people try to live life as though they are on a float trip, only to realize life is more like being at sea. Drifting along with the current is easy, but the outcomes are seldom good.
I have felt adrift in recent years in my professional world. I had a clear set of expectations and roles, following a familiar navigational map. Losing my place professionally has felt quite dangerous at times. Where was I going? Was there trouble ahead?
Rather than being tossed about, I would stop, drop anchor, and think about where I was. This “getting my bearings” would help settle my craft. Once calm, I would set a course, lift the anchor, and move ahead. This is how I started writing on Substack. In May 2022 I dropped anchor, thought about where I might like to go, then pulled up the anchor and started moving forward.
Are you adrift in your life somewhere? It might be in work, relationship, home, or health. Somehow you don’t know where you are, how you got there, or where you are going. To enjoy life more, take a moment to drop your anchor. Stop moving and just ponder where you are. When you decide which direction to go, lift the anchor and start moving again. It’s better to be firmly anchored and not moving then to be dangerously adrift.
Faith Corner
“Sabbath is a gift from the Lord.” (see Exodus 16:29)
In our 24/7 perpetual motion lives, the concept of Sabbath seems out-of-date. With Blue Laws long gone, restaurants and stores are open every day, even on Sunday. It’s hard in these “modern” times for people to comprehend an expectation to shut down everything for one full day on a holiday, doing so every week is incomprehensible.
I tell my students that Sunday is my cyber-Sabbath; they should not expect to hear from me via email until Monday. Sunday is for church, family, and friends, not work. If I were required to work on Sundays I would need to find another day of the week to declare as my day “off.”
Life is not meant to be lived in constant motion. Taking one day a week to have as a Sabbath is like dropping an anchor and pausing from the toil of sailing. This day of rest and reflection allows for weekly course corrections. The new week can start off in a slightly improved direction.
Without these weekly times of “dropping anchor” it’s easy to get off course. God’s people in ancient times were directed to take one day off every week. They also rested their land from crops one year out of every seven, a practice that became part of modern crop rotation. Many university faculty are eligible for a sabbatical once every seven years. These times off are meant to revitalize faculty for intense intellectual challenge.
Taking time off to reflect, worship, and course correct, seems unproductive. It’s certainly counter-cultural. But the gift of Sabbath, times of restoration, is healthy.
Dear Lord, thank You for the gift of the Sabbath. Forgive me for running non-stop, refusing to rest, reflect, and worship. Help me to “drop anchor” and stop moving, allowing You to show me more clearly which direction to go. Amen.
Poetry Pause
Drifting
Not strong winds
Or dangerous currents
Getting me off-course.
Random distractions
And casual floating
Get me drifting.
By Cindy MacGregor, July 13, 2023
Note. How do we lose our way? I suspect it’s a lack of small, regular course corrections.
Old Mom to Young Mom
Develop Sabbath Time
Going to church on Sundays was non-negotiable in my childhood. Similarly, my husband and I continue to operate on the assumption that Sunday is “church-day.” This isn’t a “have to” expectation, but a “want to” way we live. Sunday morning is church, then lunch, then time at home, sometimes church meetings. I don’t do my job on Sundays and I stay off of any computers. I try to get errands and housework done by Saturday so that Sunday can be a day to relax and re-group.
As an old mom to young parents, I encourage you to develop Sabbath day for your family. Put away computers and devices and focus on being together. Put together a puzzle. Play board games. Make cookies. Be old-fashioned one day a week. Teach your children to pause from their crazy lives, while you pause from yours with them. Drop anchor together once a week. Doing so will help your family stay on course.
Dear Dr. Mac
Dear Readers:
You can find all my previous posts at ARCHIVE
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