swimming up stream

picture it!

a bright sunny afternoon - a creek flowing ever so fastly - and several ducks trying to swim against the current.

that was the site i saw as i stood towards the back of the Mission building yesterday making a phone call.

i made the comment to the person on the other end who replied that there was a spiritual lesson somewhere in there.

well she was right!

after a rather frustating phone call right before bed - i remembered the duck!

that's how i was feeling - i have been paddeling all summer - but not really moving too far ahead -- now the current has been moving me to the sides a bit - but very little foward motion has happened.

i ended the call a bit deflated - a trip to walmart was my remedy! as i often do, i was talking to the most intellengent person in my car -- me!!

i was summerizing my call and my stance -- here's what hit me: -- even though the ducks looked funny being pulled by the current despite their swimming, they were moving - they were standing still - they weren't giving up - they weren't being surcum by the fast moving current - they were being tantasic!

what about me?

i know it seems i've been swimming and swimming and swimming up stream all summer in my effort to be a good leader - be organized - be prepared - but have i given up a bit, have i stopped swimming so eagerly? -- am i allowing the frustration, the overwhelmedness, the seemly unpreparedness cause me to stop swimming - to be sweep away by the rush?

i don't know -- but i do know this: i have a few weeks left before the tidal wave comes in called back to school -- i want to be a duck and swim up stream despite appearances!

I can do all things - not by my strength - not by my knowledge -- but through, in and by Christ - who will give me the strength to swim!