Anchor
the REST of the week #110
It’s the rest of the week. How about laying anchor?
If you are a boat and you want to rest without danger of being swept off course, you lay anchor.
Google provides these instructions:
“Stop the boat, lower the anchor under control to the seabed. Reverse slowly away, laying out cable in a controlled manner. When sufficient cable is let out, select neutral and check that the chain is tight and anchor is set and holding. If unsure, use a little reverse thrust to check it is holding.”
This past week I spent 36 precious hours with our son in Michigan—a place I have come and gone from for 43 years now. Four different times I have lived there: as a teenager, college student, grad student turned newlywed, and as the mother of teenagers turned college students.
As Gabriel and I went here and there, specific and wide ranging memories met me at every turn, reminding me of who I am and from whence I’ve come. I recalled the happy and the sad, remembered the accomplishments and the mistakes, acknowledged the dreams and the doldrums, and—most of all—felt anchored by the integration of the past, present, and hopes for the future.
Nothing has been wasted.
Are there any places that invite you to stop and stay for a moment? Places that reach to the bottom of your heart and pull you back just enough to see the larger context of you life—taking the urgency out of the present moment?
A home town?
A campground or trail?
A favorite shop?
A certain room in a certain house?
A school?
A hospital?
A restaurant?
A state, province, country?
A tree or building, lake or beach?
A workshop or craft room?
A garden?
Maybe it’s anyplace with a person—or the memory of a person?
May you find such a place and may your rest be sweet.
Alicia
Oh, sweet nostalgia.
A song comes to mind with the lyrics, “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through…”
Perhaps we find those places here where we feel anchored but only because we’ve never actually been to our real “home.” Until we are there, we may never really know what it feels like to be totally home or anchored.
Or maybe “Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go…” and as long as we are trusting in him and maintaining that relationship, we can feel anchored no matter where we are, no matter the situation.
And yet, there is nothing like familiarity to bring a sense of safety, security, and rest.