Kayaking Through Life

Last updated on: December 21, 2023 at 9:30 am by Faith E. Richardson

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Kayaking Through Life 2023-08-24T08:19:50-06:00 Faith E. Richardson

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Sea Kayaking through Juneau, Alaska

Kayaking through Life. Faith Richardson/Photographer

My husband, Trent, and I bought a tandem kayak a few years back. We love it! I wasn’t sure how it would go since we’re both control freaks, but we have creatively come up with a way to work together perfectly. I paddle us all over the lake, and he fly fishes off the back. It’s the perfect symbiotic system. We both benefit and have a wonderful time together. Last year I paddled 21 miles!

Marriage is like a tandem kayak. It’s a partnership. We must learn to work together, or we won’t succeed. Like tandem kayaking, marriage requires synchronization. If we are not simultaneously working together, we will overturn the boat. Have you tried to get back into a kayak after dumping yourself into frigid water? I haven’t either and I don’t want to! I hope I never have to.

Communication is Key

Equally important in both tandem kayaking and marriage is communication. In a kayak, the person in the front is the muscle, and the one in the back steers. However, it is possible for the frontman to steer as well, and without communication from the back, Chaos jumps aboard your kayak, and then Pride joins him, and well, as you can imagine, the kayak is way too crowded. Imagine what this looks like in a marriage.

Remember Grace

When Chaos and Pride join us in our adventure, it’s paramount we invite Grace. Without Grace by our side, Chaos phones Calamity and schemes for hours while Pride plays judge, and that never turns out well. Grace reminds us that we are human and not perfect.

She challenges Pride and Chaos to a race to shore and they all jump out of the Kayak eager to win. Because Grace moves so swiftly through the waters of life, she glides to shore and returns to the kayak before Chaos and Pride come up for air.

Grace clings to the side of the Kayak and we watch Pride then Chaos crawl onto shore like drowned rats clinging to life. Pride thinks she’s the winner and begins to do the victory dance around Chaos.

We burst into laughter when she finally noticed Grace at the Kayak.

You Don’t Have to do Life Alone

This sheds new light on my relationship with God. I often try to navigate through life on my own. I try to travel upstream without a paddle. Why do I do this? When God provides a shiny new tandem kayak, gives me the perfect partner, Holy Spirit, and allows each of us to have our own paddle!

I can only hope and pray that as I grow in my relationship with God and in my marriage, I remember that when Chaos and Pride try to board my kayak it’s probably because I positioned myself in the back of the kayak instead of in the front. I need Him to navigate me through this life. I know I may not have much muscle but with the Holy Spirit in charge of navigation, I find strength.

**Comment below and tell me a time where you let Holy Spirit Lead. I can’t wait to hear!

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About Faith E. Richardson

Faith E. Richardson was born in Traverse City, Michigan. She lived there nine short years before moving with her mom to Fort Worth, Texas where she would remain for another eighteen years. After meeting Trent, the love of her life, they married and moved to Colorado where they raised their two children. Currently retired from decades of human resource work, Faith renewed her passion for writing. Her life experiences and dramatic flair for storytelling draw the reader in with thought-provoking material on the wonder and truth of spiritual encounters. It's her desire to get her readers as excited about the Holy Spirit as she is. You can read more about the author here.

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