Can we turn back the clock?
Seems like a silly question because the answer is an obvious NO! I can only speak for myself because in my mind, I tend to turn back the clock by reminiscing about my childhood. Many memories can bring joy for a brief moment: Memories bring loved ones back to life who are no longer here with us. So many people are gone. They live within our heart and minds. I confess it brings me some kind of momentary peace to think of a memory, smile at that memory. However, there is lingering sadness that it was just a memory and nothing can bring them back. I can sit in my alone time and talk to God, and allow my mind to wander off. Having a relationship with Jesus, my Saviour, I can understand that He is the only one who truly knows all about my memories. He knows all about me and He knows all about you in the same way God knows our comings and our goings, when we rise and when we sit. He knows our thoughts from afar. He knows who I am.
Yesterday, I had the blessing of going out in a kayak with my husband. He paddled his kayak and I paddled mine. Together we created another moment in time. We put the kayaks in the water at an old swimming hole from where I lived as a child. Upon arriving, I immediately recognized the smell of the seaweed strewn along the shore. Of course, I noticed the changes to the landscape from then to present day. Today, there are newly built, big modern houses that replace the little bungalow cottages which once lined the Lake Drive road. A road that used to get so hot in the summer that the tar would melt and burn the bottom of our feet. The alternative was peddling our bikes.
The little harbour we used to swim in, now seems less wide than it did then. Not as deep as it was when we were 10 years old and swam across the channel to reach the big wall on the other side. At that time it seemed to be a big deal to swim to the wall and back without drowning. It was a place we truly lived life and enjoyed so many freedoms. I never knew any different. To be blessed to live where I lived having all the ability to enjoy having the lake as our backyard. I could go out in a boat, swim, fish any time I wanted. I didn't have to pay for the fun. Although my parents worked hard for us to live at a summer resort renting boats and cabins. Customers always coming and going.
Now, 50 years later, I returned the bay and had to pay for parking to put my little kayak in the water. Ding, ding another wake up call. LOL! Yesterday, I found myself turning back the clock. As I paddled over each big wave, so many memories flooded my mind. The water was choppy and rough with white caps. Back in the day, that is how we would have described the waves. As we paddled toward the weed-bed, I couldn't help but allow my mind to go back to a time when I drove that old aluminum boat with the six horsepower engine on the back. Full throttle, the boat hitting each wave while trying to keep up with my brother Terry who was driving his boat in front of me. We weaved a path through the weeds turning the boat from one turn to the next. Our hair was blowing in the wind and our faces wore a smile from ear to ear. That was one of many memories.
Paddling a kayak, the pace is somewhat slower than it was when we pounded those aluminum boats through the waves. Slower, more graceful, quiet, tranquil. Within the quietness we noticed a jungle of different birds living in that weed-bed. Everything from ducks, swallows, cranes, swans. The Lilly pads covered the calm waters with white flowers meticulously planted amongst the bright greens, water and bulrushes. It was awe inspiring. To be sure it is God's majestic hand at work.
Like a dry sponge falling into a lake, I soaked up every moment, each breath of the fresh air, the sounds and sights all around. The waves of yesterday, folding over and over, one after another like the memories within my mind. The overwhelming senses tantalized by the air, the water, wind and it's caresses. As the water dripped from my paddle down my arm and the waves dispersed it's splashes over me, I felt like I was being washed by my Father God's hand. The flood of emotions swept over me with such gratitude to God. I couldn't help but verbally praise God, tears streaming down my face, mixing with the splashes from the waves. I thanked God again and again for giving me another moment in time, to be able to revisit my childhood even if only for a couple of hours. I praised Him, feeling blessed once again to embrace the wonder of yesterday - today. A continuous roll of the waves pushed me over the water, along with the synchronized strokes of my paddle toward a place I once called home. There was a new dock waiting in place of where the old shaky dock once stood. Most years the dock had to be rebuilt every spring, by a band together of family and friends: A dock that represents many a wet footprints over the years. If a dock could talk, a book of stories could be written. A memory my mother shared with me comes to mind. She tried not to laugh as she told me the story. Oh, how bad she felt for poor Mable. Mable, was dressed in her Sunday best and her nice white hair looked so lovely as she walked along the dock. Before anyone could notice our dog walk by her and knocked Mable right off the dock by sending her right in the middle of dead fish and seaweed. I'm sure many could tell a story about that dock: The first kiss, the moonlit skinny dip, the string of fish along with the stories told as fishermen pulled up in there boat with a full string of fish or t he story of the child saved from drowning. Chapters could be written. I have my own memories which come to my mind. There are many cherished times as children. A place where we swam for hours, diving over the white crests of the waves, throwing seaweed at each other while laughing and just having so much fun.
That being said, I was compelled to take my little kayak to that time and place once again. I tied it to a dock that was no longer my own. I got out and slipped myself into the water. For a moment I was back 50 years in time - swimming with my grandfather, who dove off that dock at the age of 89. I went under the water like one being baptized again. For a few moments in time, I was swimming with my friends, Billy and Tommy. I was swimming beside my mom and dad as they did the dog paddle. I was swimming with my brothers, sister in-laws, and cousins. Though the boats no longer sit in their stalls and bang against the dock, for a brief moment I refreshed in the waters of childhood and soaked it all in. Then I pulled myself up on this stranger's dock and got back into my little kayak, came back into this time of 2021. A time, I could never have imagined as that ten year old child. As a child, 2021 seemed like a century away. In reality within what seems like a blink of an eye, it is a half century since then. Time has changed many, many things. In reality, I can't turn back the clock. I can look ahead and enjoy this day. Even as I write this blog a day later, I cannot relive yesterday but can enjoy today. We can only hope there is a tomorrow. More important is that the times are a changing. The simplicity of then, to now, is gone. The world seems to be going down a different rabbit hole that make less sense every day. That can be depressing if we allow ourselves to go there.
There is a hope and future
Far beyond our imagination or our memories of the past. It is a hope that God offers to all of us. This time on earth is written like a scroll, to be read and understood. The time we are given to live on this place we call earth, is a time to get to know the Creator, the Messiah, Christ Jesus our Saviour. He is our hope for today and eternity. He calms waters and the storms of life. He wants to be in that kayak with us. This is a time to connect us to the eternal.
It makes me think about eternity and heaven. Life after this world. Not that I am so heavenly minded I am no earthly good. In reality, who does not want to have an assurance and a hope of something even more amazing to look forward to when we pass from here to there? I sure don't want to perish. God does not want any to perish but all to receive the gift He offers through the Son Jesus. The gift of eternal life for those who believe. Is it so hard to believe or receive such a gift? Not really. God has revealed his mysteries to us in so many ways (Bible). Clearly the Old Testament prophesies have been fulfilled by the Son of God, Jesus. There are some New Testament prophecies still to be fulfilled. The Return of Jesus is one. There are others. That is why I have embraced Jesus and His gift of salvation. He died for me and my sins. He took my punishment which is death. Why? So I could have life in Him.
If I could escape for two hours yesterday and lose myself within a weed-bed and see some of God's creation on a different level, it only makes me wonder how amazing Heaven must be, how marvelous this place that Jesus said He is preparing for us who seek Him and answer His calling to follow Him there. I can only hope and pray to my Heavenly Father, that He forgives my transgressions, grants me salvation and redeems my soul, to enter into His paradise for eternity, in a place where neither rust nor moth will destroy and where no one grows old or dies anymore. I pray, He leads me in the way everlasting and beside the still waters. If those still waters I floated through yesterday are any indication take me to the river of life. Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life, and He is the gate to get entrance to that place where there is no need or want to turn back the clock. Jesus is coming back one day for those who believe. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open. May the Lord by His Holy Spirit bless you and pour out upon you and also lead you through each day. God Bless!
Click on the song below. It is beautiful. Be Blessed.
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