We all have things in our life we have always enjoyed and liked – though perhaps, we don’t know exactly why.

For me, being outdoors in the sunshine and near the water has always spoken to places deep within – and boating, unlike any other, helps brings it all together.

Even looking at boats in a marina, on the water, or tied to the pylons, brings me a sense of thrill and tranquilty. It calms me, and almost calls to me, as it stimulates my imagination and invites me to adventure.

In fact, boating, as someone once said, is a lot like life, for it requires constant adjustments, big and small, to remain afloat and to keep moving forward. Granted, some are more practiced, and graceful in this effort, but all boaters relish the thrill of accomplishing these feats amidst the potential dangers. To venture out, explore, play, share, and conquer – this is the beauty within such purpose.

This isn’t so much an advertisement for boating, as it is an awareness of a passion deep within – and an opportunity to explore it.

In my life, I have a burning desire to untether from the tie down cleats that threaten to keep me “docked at the harbors“, and to always be willing to venture out in faith.

It’s a need to let no “Goliath” taunt me into restrictive and stale routines, but to actively engage life with God, fully aware, fully present, and fully alive.

Boating may simply be a tangible and physical outlet to express this spiritual awareness and need, but it is a helpful one for me. As is anything requiring effort, practice, expansion, connection, communion, risk, and adventure.

I also believe God is that good and creative – to use anything and everything to bring us closer to Him, and to teach us how to walk in the newness of life He so graciously gives. Even to use our desires when our hearts and minds are set on Him.

As such, as we seek Him, and dare to follow, with the intrigue of an explorer, the thread that leads to the source of why we have the desires we have, we soon discover them leading us ever closer to Him and into a deeper healing of our heart.