“Do you know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youth grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.”
-Isaiah 40:27-31
My summer is in full swing as a canoe guide in the BWCA. We have completed our staff training, staff trip, and my first two trips. I still cannot believe that I am getting paid to spend my summer guiding in the boundary waters. So far this summer has been incredible. I feel so refreshed and genuinely happy. I have a big year ahead of me but it is refreshing to just be content with where I am right now. The last year was a busy one and I have also been thankful to have had time to just be still!
I feel that sometimes I get some of my best thinking done when I am sitting in a canoe with a paddle in hand. A few weeks ago I went on a day trip with a friend of mine from camp. We spent the morning paddling across Seagull, through Alpine, up Red Rock and into Sag. The waves on sag were pretty bad and it took a solid hour of hard paddling to get out of the wind. During this portion of the paddle it was really easy for me to focus only on the waves. As I dug my paddle into the water all I saw was the next wave crashing over the canoe. At some point during this tiring paddle I glanced up and noticed a hillside covered in quaking aspens. Did you know that some believe the quaking aspen to be the biggest organism in the world because of the connected root system? It’s amazing! Then I looked above me and saw an incredible blue sky with big fluffy clouds. To my left there was a beautiful shore line of huge trees, untouched by the recent fire. As I looked around me I realized that I was surrounded by nothing but God’s beautiful creation. How often do we miss God’s presence in our lives because we are focusing only on the waves that are crashing over our canoe?
The last year has been difficult. It was a great year but often I feel that I only saw the waves that had become present in my life, the stresses of a full load of senior level classes. Looking back at the year I regret that I didn’t allow myself to be energized by the glory of God that is constantly surrounding me.
Our Lord is the everlasting God who gives us strength. I hope that this is a lesson that will never be forgotten.
