Drifting

Last week our family had a reunion up near Duck Creek on Cedar Mountain. One morning we drove out to Navajo Lake. We had a couple rafts and we all took turns taking the kids out on rides. Soon my arms were dead and so I let Asher and his cousin (both 4 years old) just paddle among themselves in water that was less than a foot deep. They both had life jackets, neither of them could actually paddle, and there were 30 of us all there watching them - no problem.

I kept glancing up and admired the fun they were having. I wasn’t noticing they were slowly, slowly drifting farther and farther away. Before I knew it, I glanced up again to enjoy their cute, happy smiles and was shocked how far away they were! They were no longer in ankle deep water, they weren't even in knee-deep water. They were out in the middle of the lake with no adult and no real way to get back! Sure they had life jackets, it wasn’t stormy, no crazy rapids or waterfall, and there was no imminent danger in them being so far away, but if something didn’t change, they would continue drifting away, farther and farther, to where it could become a serious problem.

So being a seminary teacher’s wife I think of the lessons we could learn from that. Many of us in life are like those little kids in a boat. We’re having fun. We’re doing good. We’re going to church and have that life jacket on to protect. We're surrounded by people that are there to help in a moment's notice if needed. But how easy is it to slowly drift away. It is happening so gradually, and so minimally, we hardly notice it is happening. Our daily morning prayers become more like occasional morning prayers. Our daily personal scripture study gets passed by because we’re still doing daily family scripture study. And going to this Relief Society meeting isn't that important. Before we know it, our personal spirituality is much weaker and we are much farther from Christ than we should be. But, at the same time, we’re still doing fine. We can see the shore. We’ve still got those jackets on. We still have a testimony. We’re not committing any serious sins. And, we’re having fun enjoying life.

The trouble is, if a storm did come, those life jackets may not be good enough. If we don’t change something, we will continue to drift farther and farther away. We don’t know what lies ahead or if we will be strong enough, capable enough to handle it. We NEED to be close to Christ.

When Asher was in that shallow water my older sister expressed concern about them being alone. My husband’s response was, ‘How long do you think it would take me to reach them?’ We could easily run in that water and reach them in a matter of seconds if something happened.

So what did happen? My sister in the other raft began rowing out to help them. She had a boat full of kids, and it was taking awhile. Once she got out there, I didn't know how she would be able to help them back so I decided I needed to swim out after them. I got out neck-deep, but that water was COLD and it made me nervous to swim out without a float for myself should something happen to me. I got a tube and swam out with that. Slowly but surely we reached the kids and helped them back to shore.

The same goes if we apply this situation to ourselves spiritually. Heavenly Father will always be there to help us if we call out to Him. How quickly he responds depends on how far away we are. The scriptures teach that he will be slow to hear our cries if we are not close to Him. Our trials, pains, struggles will be SO much easier if we stay close to the Lord and diligent in those little things. There are others around us that are willing to help as well, but if we want to be the Lord's hands and help bring others back, we need to make sure that we are spiritually strong ourselves, otherwise we may find ourselves lost like them.

Anyway, it was good for me to think about myself and where I stand in that boat. And I came to the conclusion, I could be doing better. :)