Stagnant or Rapids

Last year was another year of change for us. I wonder if I'll ever look back on a year & think that nothing really changed. We are after all supposed to always be growing & changing ourselves. But sometimes I think a stagnant year might not be too bad. Until you look up the definition of stagnant. Stale or foul from standing, as a pool of water. Yuck!!! And you know that stagnant water is water that breeds bugs & you drink it & you'll get sick. Stagnant is just not an option.

So maybe if we're characterizing life with water, I think I would want to be a river. I used to think of life as a ocean, but rivers are rough with rapids sometimes & calm & lazy flowing at others. You never know what is around the corner & you never really know which rapids are really going to be a challenge. Last summer Shane & I floated down the river & I was on a buddies tube that was flat on top, my own personal boat... We came up on a set of rapids & I laughed because I knew I wasn't going to get wet, I'm gonna ride this out happy as can be. And we come to it and guess who fell in? Maybe it's part of the whole pride comes before a fall.

You never know what is going to tip you over. You don't know when you're going to fall in... It may very well be the thing that you knew was coming & totally thought you had it handled, but then it brought you to your knees. Not that on your knees is a bad place, it's really a great place, but it's hard. And it hurts & you are begging for it to be over. I also know when you come out on the other side you are forever changed. It's you that gets to choose if the change is good or bad, did you fight to get back on your tube or did you wade to shore & sit in utter defeat?

I fell in the river a couple times last year. I also lazily drifted along in utter peace. It's a river. Sometimes the things that I thought were going to make me fall didn't & the things I thought I had under control crushed me. When I look at myself this year I am happy with who I see, I conquered another year, was it always with grace & beauty, no... But I did pick myself back up & keep going. I lived life, I trusted God, I grew. I have a whole bunch of things I want to work on this year. Stagnant is not an option. I don't want to be stuck, diseased & stinky. At least now if I stink I know a little trip over the rapids will surely clean me up.