The thought just struck me, that most of life is like rolling down a river on a raft with no rudder. Every morning we get up, look around, see where we are, remember where we were the day before, and check out where we seem to be headed. The river looks the same, but the scenery changed. We’ve moved further along and we’re going to move further today, hopefully. We have no control over the speed or direction of the raft, in fact the only control we have is over what’s on the raft.

What do we have on the raft? What’s important to have on the raft with you? Is it your family? Is it your friends? But don’t they have their own raft? Aaah, maybe like you said, it’s the memories. Yes, memories.Memories and dreams and hopes and ideals, Those are the things we carry and some are quite heavy. In fact we have some memories that occasionally threaten to capsize the raft! If it weren’t for the hopes, we might have drowned, Good memories keep us afloat. Hope is the ballast that helps center the load so the raft continues to float steadily down the river. Ideals are the boxes we pack our hopes in.

The thing about boxes though, is what are they made of? Cardboard is fine as long as it doesn’t get wet. Wood or plastic is okay too, but wood rots and plastic deteriorates in the sun of harsh realities.Metal boxes rust and glass breaks too easily. What kind of boxes have you used? Personally, I’ve been using a particualarly strong box material for most of my life that is quite enduring. It’s made of rock, from the cornerstone. It is lightweight, not burdensome. Durable and leakproof made of eternal materials that won’t fail to keep the raft balanced when the river turns to rapids, as it often does. And it’s all tied down in place with ropes.

Ropes are important too. Like a spider’s web, all my boxes are held in place by the most powerful force in the universe, love, Not just any kind of love, but the love that only comes from the one who sacrificed his own life for mine. My raft is riding steady and it is tied to a great fleet of rafts of which I am proud. As my family grows, more rafts pull in close and tie up. Together we are more steady as we roll along the river together. Durrone

“Don’t live for the moment, live for eternity.” (Thomas Chalmers 2014)