EXTREME NOODLING
When was the last time you just floated on the waves? Let me guess - for most of you it's been awhile! I can't remember when I last spent time floating. I bet it was sometime before the first hair appeared on my chest. I know for sure it was before the first hair had departed from my scalp. In case you were wondering, that was a long time ago! I really don't know why it's been so long since I last floated. After all, I remember enjoying the experience as a kid. I guess there's just something about being "grown up" that causes us to forget how much fun can be found in floating. Well, a week or two ago, David, Graham and I shared a very special afternoon floating.
This took place on Mary Lake in the Huntsville, Ontario area. It was a very unique day. It was warm and overcast, but you could tell that there was no threat of rain. What made it special was a particularly strong onshore breeze. This wind kicked up the waves enough to make them about two and sometimes three feet high from trough to crest. Conditions were perfect for the latest sport - extreme noodling.
David, Graham and I each had one of those floating foam noodles and we wrapped them under our arms and floated, waiting for the big waves to hit us so that we could just let the waves flex our bodies up and down. It was great fun, incredibly relaxing and certainly worth the mouthful or two of water that intruded into our personhoods.
In fact it was so much fun that I was able to even lure my wife, Sheila into the water to join us in our float-a-thon. Sheila is a very beautiful, wonderful, womanly wimp when it comes to water. It has to be real hot for her to consider dipping her toes into the H2O. But, this time around she stayed in for what must have been at least twenty minutes! This was no doubt a personal best for her.
What we basically did was swim out from the shore far enough to let ourselves float for a bit before we had to turn around and swim out again because the wave action had moved us too close to the shore. We used the dock and a couple of nearby floats as our markers and we spent a few hours swimming out and floating in, swimming out and floating in, swimming out and floating in. I'm sure you get the picture.
Sometimes we faced the waves so that we could see the big ones coming and enjoy the anticipation of a wild ride; at other times we turned our backs to the waves and just took what came. We also made an observation in the name of science. It seemed that, for some reason, the really big waves came in packs of three and it was usually the second wave in the pack that was the largest. If anyone has any idea why that might be, I'd love to hear from you!
While I was out there, I also spent time in prayer. There was something magnificent about the combination of praying and being supported, surrounded and moved by the cool fluid of Mary Lake. It was like I was in a spiritual womb connected to God.
Water has always stirred my emotions. I love the cleansing power of water and how it feels so other worldly against your skin. I love how underwater sounds seem both magnified and muffled. All of my senses added to, instead of distracting from, my time with God. Believe me, that isn't usually the case!
As I floated and prayed it occurred to be how much floating and prayer are alike: in a way, prayer is spiritual floating. Prayer is our way of being moved, supported and enveloped by God. It is our way of letting go of the pressures that come from dry land living so that we can find relaxing refreshment in the living waters of our Lord-at least that what prayer is supposed to be like. Sometimes I admit that my prayers are more like treading water, or swimming against the heavenly current than they are floating, but I am learning to go with the flow of knowing God.
I also noted that periodically I had to use the floats as markers to help me reposition myself for optimum floatage. In the same way our spiritual lives can't be just about going with the flow of experience and sensation. Sometimes we experience things that aren't necessarily plumb with our relationship with God. Experience without truth can be a dangerous place to tread water! So, as we float in our spiritual experiences, we have to, through the direction of the Holy Spirit, keep our eyes on Christ and the Word. They are our markers to ensure that we aren't floating in unsafe waters.
There is a place of optimum floatage in our spiritual lives as well. That is right in the middle of God's presence and will. Let's all use our noodles and make sure we are floating in the footsteps of Jesus. After all, He was the only one who walked on water!
If you have any questions or comments, just e-mail me by clicking on my name at the bottom of this page and I promise to write back to you.
