´e Tutto Buono... It's All Good: What Floats Your Boat?

Paros, Greece

Have you ever looked at a boat and wondered how on earth it floated? The scientific explanation can be found in the Archimedes Principle found in Physics. The basic, paraphrased version of this principle is this: An object floats when the volume of water displaced is equal or greater than the weight of the object. Ok, I can mostly follow that logic. So, out of curiosity I looked up (googled) the heaviest ship--it's a ship called the Pioneering Spirit and it weighs in at a whopping 403,342 Gross Tonnage. That's a heavy ship! And it floats! It really is an amazing feat of naval architecture. And yet, conditions must be just right in order for a boat or ship to float.

What happens to a boat that is overburdened with weight? It sinks. I shouldn't have to explain to you that holes in a ship are bad and can lead to a boat sinking. And if the ship gets tipped over by the wind? You guessed it, it sinks.

And here is where I am making the leap from this broad idea of boats and ships sinking and floating, to a practical analogy about life and how to stay afloat, so to speak. I hope this encourages you today. I know it has encouraged me.

If we are going to talk about floating, we also need to talk about sinking. What causes a boat to sink? According to the Coast Guard the three leading causes of ships sinking are human error, a rift in the hull usually caused by a collision, and stormy weather. Hmmmm....

Sometimes in life we are sinking because our own decisions added extra weight to our boat. The additional burden may come from being over committed, carrying more cargo that your ship can handle. It could be that you are carrying cargo that you were never designed to carry. A small sailboat is designed to carry people, not big cargo containers.

Other times the ship is sinking because there's a rift in the hull. Sometimes the hole in the boat is because we have traveled off course and collided with something. Sometimes our life choices can be corrosive and cause holes to form. And while the right kind of friendships and relationships can help lift your boat and keep it afloat, the wrong kind of relationships can tear holes in your hull.

"Do not be mislead; bad company corrupts good character." 1 Corinthians 15:33

"Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm." Proverbs 13:20

And I think we are all aware that life can be full of storms that we have no control over. We didn't cause them, they just suddenly showed up, causing waves to crash over the sides of our boat, filling the hull with water. Fierce storms that bring strong winds that threaten to tip us over on our side and sink us.

Have you ever watched something sink? Sometimes it happens quickly. When you throw a rock in the water it immediately sinks to the bottom. But most of the time, sinking is a slower process. What usually happens is that water starts to get in slowly, a little at a time, causing the boat to slowly gain weight and begin to sit lower and lower in the water. Eventually there is a tipping point, the point at which there is a shift and the added weight of the water makes the boat too heavy to float. At that point, the sinking process speeds up.

It seems to me, and many others I have had conversations with, that life lately can feel very heavy. All around I see people who are walking around trying to single handedly carry the burdens and weight of life, taking on water, and feeling like they are on the tipping point and about to sink. I have been there at times myself. Let me just state right now that this idea of bearing the weights, burdens, and sorrows of this world by ourselves, on our own, is not God's plan. In fact, God's whole plan for us is built on a principle of dependence, not independence. And God has provided us with solutions to lighten the load and keep our boats afloat.

The problem with added weight in our lives is that we are often embarrassed to acknowledge it to anyone, even God. We view our struggle with the weight as a weakness. And I am here to tell you that it is a weakness, but one that all humans have in common. We are all weak, but we have a BIG STRONG God who is willing to help us with the burdens and weight of this world, even if it is a self-inflicted burden. But don't take my word for it, listen to what the Bible says:

"Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you." Psalm 55:20

"The Lord sustains all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down." Psalm 145:14

"Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10

All we have to do is ask for God's help. Seems simple, right? Then why is it sometimes so very hard? It's not like we are hiding anything from God. It's not like He doesn't already know what is going on. Sometimes it's a matter of pride, feeling like I should be able to handle this myself. Sometimes it's a matter of shame, because we know that we are the cause of this added weight due to our own poor decisions. And sometimes it's because we feel like this weight is too small of a problem to bring before God. The scriptures above offer us compelling instructions on how to handle the burdens of this world. God is offering his help to us regardless of why we need the help. All we need to do is ask for Help.

Isaiah 30:18 says,

"Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion."

That word... LONGS ... it means yearns, pines, craves, eagerly, aspires, aches. So you could say:

God yearns to be gracious to you

God pines to be gracious to you

God is craving to be gracious to you

God is eager to be gracious to you

God aspires to be gracious to you

God aches to be gracious to you

We can trust God to help us. He knows every good and bad thing about us and yet He still longs to help. That is so encouraging! God wants to help us! When I ask God for help, He always shows up. And His comfort is soul deep, life changing, and life affirming. I can go to God feeling so heavy that it feels like I can barely lift my head, and He has a way of easing my burdened soul. My circumstances my not have changed, but the way I am carrying them has. I'm not carrying the load alone. My boat would not be floating without God's help.

And God provided another way to help us with the weight of the world with this amazing concept of friendship. We crave and need companionship, friendship, and relationship. Let's go back to the concept of floating and weight for just a moment... the principle of displacement of water... which in it's most simplistic meaning refers to the concept that an object floats when the weight force on the object is balanced by the upward push of the water on the object. That concept ties directly with one of the key principles of friendship that God laid out for us in the Bible. Friends are meant to help balance us and provided us an upward push. Here are a few scriptures about friendship in the Bible:

"Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up." Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born of a time of adversity." Proverbs 17:17

Again, a seemingly simple answer, but oh so hard for us to do. It is hard for us to share our burdens with others for some of the same reasons we struggle sharing them with God: pride, shame, feeling like our issue is too small. But this solution of sharing our burdens with others also feels riskier... because it involves trusting in another person who is just as weak and fallible as you are. It's much easier to trust God with your burdens, there's not as much vulnerability in admitting something to a God who we inherently know already understands and is aware of the ins and outs of the situation. Nothing is hidden from God. But other people? We keep a lot hidden from other people. Asking for help puts us in a vulnerable position. It goes back to that principle of God's kingdom being built on dependence, not independence. But I can tell you from personal experience that there have been many times in my life where friends have come alongside me when I was taking in water and on the verge of sinking and they have lifted me up, and helped me to float instead of sink. But I had to be willing to put out the distress call. They have helped carry the burden by praying with me and for me. They have shown up and sat with me in my grief. They have listened. They have given me good advice. They have cried with me. They have encouraged me. They have reminded me that I am not alone. My boat would not be floating without help from my friends and family.

So I wrote all this to encourage you and to encourage myself. When life is heavy, and your boat feels like it is sinking, there is help. All you have to do is ask for it. You were meant for dependence on God and others. You do not have to bear the weight on your own.

I hope this encourages you, comforts you, and helps you. And this week I hope your boat floats! I'll leave you with an old Irish Sailors Blessing and a few more boat photos.

There are good ships,

And there are wood ships,

The ships that sail the sea.

But the best ships,

Are friendships,

And may they always be.