Lesson from an Adirondack Chair

I would like to give gratitude for an experience I had recently. We live on a small lake. We have had a lot of rain. A few days after the rain my husband noticed that one of our plastic Adirondack chairs was floating in the middle of the lake.

A while later he reported that he thought it may have sunk. But that wasn’t the case. It was across the lake and it appeared that the wind was moving it slowly but steadily in my direction. As my husband and I stood at the edge of the lake my neighbor saw us and asked if she could help. She said she would get her fishing pole and my husband also left to get his. We were so very grateful for our neighbor who kindly offered to help us.

A statement came to mind from hymn 51 from the Christian Science Hymnal “Loves work and Love must fit!” The chair then turned and headed to where I was standing but got stuck on low hanging branches of a tree.

When my husband and neighbor returned, their attempts to snag the chair with the fishing poles failed due to the strong wind. My husband tried a pool pole but it was 3 feet too short. The thought came to me, God has never taken me halfway and he would not start now. The wind picked up. Then, the chair moved closer. My husband took the pool pole and this time he caught the chair on the leg and pulled it to shore.

As my husband and I were returning to the house I said, “We thank God for this demonstration of His love,” and my husband said, “Yes we do!”

In Proverbs 6 we read, “In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path.” I love this statement because it means, in ALL my ways. It is not telling me to reserve my demonstration of God’s law for only what I may consider significant challenges. But, in order to live this Science of the Christ, I must demonstrate God’s allness in every way! If I don’t then I am saying God is not all.

I am so very grateful to my practitioner who is guiding me to see God everywhere and in everyone. It is not always easy but it is not impossible. This demonstration of the chair was another proof to me that trusting in God’s allness is the only way.