Time For a Cool Change

"Well I was born in the sign of water, and it's there that I feel my best..." Okay, so I wasn't really born in the sign of water, as the classic Little River Band song Cool Change relays, but being out on the water is one of the places I feel my best.

I haven't always felt this way.

My husband Michael has taught me to love the water, to notice how it has the magical powers of stress relief. When we're fishing on the river, up in a hidden cove off the main drag, I don't think about anything except that moment, that illusive fish hiding underneath the surface. I swear you can hear a hundred different kinds of birds singing at once. Even Abbey's constant but happy babbling as she plays in the boat makes me feel peace there.

Much needed, unplugged peace.

But here's my confession: sometimes I am scared of the water. Because I can't see to the bottom---I am scared of the unknown, the snakes and the alligators that lurk beneath. I mean, Alabama has some of the biggest gators in the world lurking in our rivers--and I have seen them! But Michael, my river guide husband, assures me that those animals are much more afraid of me than I am of them. And I feel a little better. And I relax into the peace at hand again.

Likewise, my God provides spiritual water that brings me peace as well. When I am scared of the unknown and struggling with making the right decisions, the 'alligators' and 'snakes' threaten my peace and my soul runs dry. I get dehydrated from so much giving of myself and doing for others, but sweet Jesus becomes my soul's river guide, and provides that intravenous peace. A deliberate phone call from a friend, an inspirational email, a spontaneous hug from my child...something happens that reassures me that He who is in me is greater than anything I will ever face. 

Jesus, the One who calmed that stormy sea, can calm our stormy souls if we let Him, and bring us that moment of "cool change" that we so desperately need.

"Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land" Proverbs 25:25

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