Nose Up. Toes Up. Float.
Every summer for the past 7 years my husband, son, and I have gone to Wetumpka, AL for a 7 mile kayaking trip down the Coosa River. It’s one of our favorite shared family adventures.
After about every mile of flat water paddling there are sections of Class II and III rapids. Once you reach the speeding current where the rapids begin, there is little room or time for major adjustments. The water grows in power and you go where it takes you. One of my first few trips down the river, I decided to change my trajectory of approach much too late. The boys were carried on through. I labored against the current and ultimately my kayak flipped.
The good news is I didn’t get sucked down through the rocky rapids boatless. I found myself in a section of a v-shaped rock outcropping, along with my boat. The bad news is the deep water was still incredibly rough, so very loud, and the undercurrent was powerful. The worst news is I instinctively tried to keep standing up instead of floating and quickly realized my feet were sliding down into rock crevices that were getting harder to escape.
What was likely only a minute or two felt 10 times as long. I knew foot entrapments were one of the biggest dangers of rivers and yet I still fought to try to find my footing. Gratefully, I remembered that morning’s mandatory safety meeting at the outfitters. One I’d already attended a couple times prior. “Nose up. Toes up. Float.” Surrender to the river. I knew this. I had made sure my husband and son knew this. But, when I was in a precarious situation, adrenaline clouded my brain. I fought back instead of surrendering.
Quickly exhausted, I had little choice but to lean back. Nose up. Toes up. Float. I floated right to my boat, which was miraculously still wedged in some adjacent rocks. With shaky arms and legs I climbed back on and rode the rapids. Aside from a few 'river tattoos' (bruises that eventually favor the pattern of a rainbow trout), I was fine.
I hope I’ve learned my lesson when it comes to the river. So often, though, I don’t learn this lesson when it comes to life. When things get difficult, when life takes me downstream to places I’d rather not be, I fight and struggle, and not in a good way. I exhaust myself and in trying to stand up on my own merit I only find myself entrapped.
Matthew 11:28, the words of Jesus tell us, “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
Notice, Jesus doesn’t say, “Try everything else and fix yourself before you come to me.”
Jesus doesn’t say, “I mean, I guess it’s okay if you really need to come to me. I can probably try to pencil you in, but it is kind of a busy week for me.”
And Jesus certainly doesn’t say, “You should be able to carry all those heavy burdens on your own without feeling weary. You don’t need rest. Why are you even tired?!”
People may say these kinds of things to us. But, we cannot project that rejection and dismissal we may feel from others onto the nature of Jesus. He compassionately understands the weariness that comes from trying to carry our burdens on our own, trying to yoke the weight of it all on ourselves. Jesus knows we need rest. He knows we may be too stubborn or too afraid or too overwhelmed to ask for what we need, and as we so often see Him do, Jesus extends an invitation to us, “Come to me”.
That day in the river, my first instinct for survival was to find my footing. It was not to surrender. But that is exactly what I needed to do to survive. The surrender was not “giving up”, but surrendering my own instinct and recognizing rivers are not made for walking. In life we can struggle to find our footing, only to realize the steadiest ground is found when we surrender to resting in Jesus. Our heavy burdens are not made for carrying, and our weary selves are not made for powering through without rest. The world might tell us we can and should do those things, though. In fact, the world will often praise us when we do. Jesus gives us another way. A better way.
The river guide’s mantra of “Nose up. Toes up. Float.” is sage advice. Jesus’ invitation of “Come to me…and I will give you rest” is a life-giving invitation. It reminds us we aren’t built to carry those heavy burdens, especially alone and without rest. Surrender is often paramount to survival. This surrender doesn’t mean giving up and not trying. It is simply recognizing our human instinct isn’t always the best way, and then yielding to the way that is better.
“Come to me”, Jesus said. He has already invited us to the better way.