A friend of mine shared a simple story which illustrates some potent life lessons. His first experience kayaking happened on the river near my home. He noticed as he bobbed along that whether he paddled or not, the movement of the water kept him going. A few times he gave into the temptation to take the easy way and let the river do the work. But he also noticed something else. If he didn’t paddle, he couldn’t steer, and if he didn’t steer, he always ended up stuck somewhere – in the shallows, on some rocks or debris, wherever the course of least resistance took him. Only by paddling could he have any influence on where he went.
Lesson 1 – Life has its own momentum.
Like the river, life keeps moving. Sometimes it meanders; sometimes it rages. Most of the time it’s somewhere in between, but it keeps moving. It continues to move whether we do or not.
Lesson 2 – If we go with the flow, we’ll get stuck at some point.
Coasting along in life can feel relaxing and is certainly easier since it requires little thought or effort. The problem is if we don’t take the time and effort to live intentionally, paddle our kayak, so to speak, sooner or later we’ll get stuck. We’ll lose all forward momentum. Often that’s when life becomes dull or especially frustrating since we sense that we’re going nowhere. It feels like life is passing us by just like the river passes by the kayak stuck on the shore, in debris, or on the rocks.
Another downside is when we get stuck, it requires more effort to get ourselves moving again than it would have to keep ourselves moving in the first place.
Lesson 3 – We don’t need to do all the work, but some effort is required if we want to influence our course in life.
We don’t need to paddle our brains out constantly. We can adjust our effort according to what we have to give at any given point; we can even pause from time to time and still move in the direction we want to go. Life’s momentum will work in our favor as we do our part. It’s synergistic that way.
However, if we want to influence our course, it requires effort. We need to get clear on what we want, put energy into making it happen, know and maintain focus on why we want what we want, and be wise enough to enjoy the journey.
Between our efforts and Life’s momentum, overall, it can be an awe-inspiring ride.
The questions are – Where is the momentum of your life taking you? Are you paddling so you can steer or just drifting wherever the current takes you?