I sure do enjoy the outdoors! I enjoy hiking, walking, exploring, kayaking, and sometimes just sitting. Just this weekend, I went kayaking! It was a perfect day on the water. It was smooth, and calm. The kind of day that makes you want to stay on the water for hours.

Getting around in a kayak is pretty easy. Even strokes on either side keep your forward motion. When you need to veer left, you paddle a bit more on the right side to change direction. It’s the opposite to turn right.

But what’s really challenging, is going straight!

When you’re trying to get your kayak to shore, at a place where landing makes sense, going straight matters. The mintue I stop paddling my kayak evenly on both sides I am no longer going straight, or even something close to strait. I just wander sideways. I’m drifting whatever way the water takes me.

Even when it seems calm, the water shifts my kayak in ways I’m not aware of.

Isn’t that a picture of our spiritual lives too? “Going straight” is work. Heading the direction you want takes effort. You can’t stop intentionally moving forward towards your goal, because as soon as you do, you end up heading somewhere that you didn’t intend to go.

It happens without you even knowing it. It’s quick. Because you’re still in motion, you barely notice that you’ve gone sideways. We need to remember where we’re headed.

In our pursuit of connection and relationship with God, it is important to know where we’re headed, to pay attention to where we’re going. To paddle straight.

In my life, I’ve learned that Paddling Straight means spending time with God through reading and studying His word, through times of open prayer, and through fellowship with believers who encourage and challenge me. If I don’t do those things, I end up going sideways, not in the direction I want to go with my life.❤

Today’s goal; fix my gaze directly before me. Proverbs 4:25. Paddle straight.