Sunday, October 9, 2011

If I was in the Boat with Jesus.

Every now and then, as I visit many Christian and Catholic Blogs, I come accross a post that is so good that it makes me wish I had written it myself.

Here is one I have found written by JADE. I invite you to visit her by clicking on her name.

If I was in the Boat with Jesus.

The moon casts silvery light over the sea.  Stars dot the midnight sky.  After whispering prayers to the Almighty One, I would have been tucked in my cozy cot waiting for dreams to come.  But tonight there is no looking back.  The dead must bury their own dead and the living must go on living.  Rather than being blissful in some artificial dreamland, I choose to follow truthful love.

When I see Jesus step into the boat and my friends follow, doubt dims my mind.  Maybe I shouldn't be here.  Maybe I should go back home.

And then my friends shout, "Come on."

And Jesus invites me, saying, "Come with me."

So I go into the boat, still doubting.  The moon is fiercely glowing and I can smell the salty sea.  I flick a bit of seaweed off my feet and sit down to talk with my friends.

And then suddenly comes the unexpected storm.  It floods all I thought I wanted.  Everything I desired is upturned in those waves.  The boat is filling fast and I panic; where is Jesus when you need him?!

He is fast asleep.  We run to him, screaming, "Wake up! We're all going to die! How can you sleep? You mean, you're not going to help us?"

Jesus looks at us with sleepy eyes that are filled with patience and understanding.  I know he understands me, at least, the way he looks at me.  It's as if he sees a good heart that wants to know him.

With one motion of his hand, he calms the waves and all is still and quiet.  At first, he says nothing.  We listen to the swish of the boat, feel the breeze in our knotty hair, and look around at each other in astonishment.

Then he asks us why we are terrified.  "Oh, you of little faith," he says and shakes his head.  In this moment, I am first offended, and later motivated to better know God.

Finally, I prayed this prayer:

I ask for faith for the doubtful, for the ones I think might be struggling, the ones I love, and the ones I have never met.  May they stay close to the Faithful One.  May they not allow the temporary storms to persuade them to believe that they are unloved.  In the same way, may they not allow their temporary doubt to keep them away from the wellspring of life that is in Jesus.  Amen.

10 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing.

    As an avid reader of Jade's blog, I can admit that I wish I wrote almost every one of her posts!

    God Bless.

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  2. Ooh thank you for posting this!

    This site looks great... I am off to read some of the archive. :)

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  3. Too true Michael.

    Hi Jade; welcome to this Blog. We hope to see you here often.

    God bless.

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  4. Wow, this is so beautiful! I can actually smell the salty sea as I reflect on the words. Then, I think of the times when Jesus has reached his hand out to me and calmed the storm that was ragging within.

    Thank you for sharing this.

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  5. Jade, you have a beautiful gift for writing both stories and poetry. You made this biblical passage come alive and gave us some wonderful meditation material. Thank you! The prayer is awesome too and I join you in praying it.

    Victor, thanks for bringing Jade's wonderful reflection to this site!

    God bless you both

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  6. Thanx Daily Grace, Mary and Colleen,

    God bless.

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  7. Thanks for sharing this wonderful post from Jade.
    I've listened to Mother Angelica speak on this Scripture passage several times and what struck me most is the following: She explained that what upset Jesus so much in the doubt of the Apostle's was not that they doubted His "power" ... because they didn't...but that they doubted "HIS CARE AND LOVE AND CONCERN" for them! So too, we offend Our Lord when we allow satan's snares to get their hooks in us and lead us toward "despair" for then we are doing the SAME thing...we are doubting whether or not God CARES about us. That was the point Jesus was making when He said, "ye of little faith"...not so much that they did not believe that He was the Messiah...because they DID believe that else they wouldn't have been with Him in the boat...but that they doubted HIS LOVE.
    I enjoyed reading Jade's writing. Thanks again.

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  8. Wow...you've given me new insight to this well known story..Now I need to meditate on what it means personally.

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  9. Hi Sher,

    It's nice to see you visiting here. Welcome.

    We hope to see you again soon.

    God bless.

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