In the Boat Part 3

 

Recently, I was introduced to a song, Sailboat, by Ben Rector.  I invite you to slowly read and savor these words.  Which of the lyrics leap off the page and stir your soul?  Which of the lines feel like they were written for you?  Which of the ideas and insights do you resist or feel like sandpaper to your soul?  You can Google the song if you’d like to hear it.

I feel just like a sailboat
I don't know where I'm headed
But you can't make the wind blow
From a sailboat

I have seen the sun
I felt the rain on my skin
I've been lost and found, yeah
Mostly, I've been waiting

I'm out in the waves and I'm hoping and praying
Please let this wind blow me home
And night after night, there's an empty horizon
My God, do I feel so alone
But sometimes life
And most times I feel just like a sailboat

And I'm pretty sure I'm heard
At least I know I'm speaking
But I feel like a fool
'Cause I can't hear you listening

But I'm not giving up
No, I will move on forward
I'm gonna raise my sail
God knows what I'm headed towards, yeah

I'm out in the waves and I'm hoping and praying
Please let this wind blow me home
And night after night, there's an empty horizon
My God, do I feel so alone
But sometimes life
And most times I feel just like a sailboat (Repeat/re-read this last stanza).

 

I know for me the line that stirs and swirls in my soul is, “I’m pretty sure I’m heard, at least I know I’m speaking.  But I feel like a fool, cause I can’t hear you listening.”  That, for me, is a profound and powerful insight into prayer.  I can’t always hear God listening to me.  I trust God is.  I know I am speaking, sharing, trying to sing to the sacred.  Sometimes my words fall flat.  Sometimes my words feel inadequate.  Sometimes I just sigh because the exhaustion of a world that moves too fast makes me dizzy and disoriented.  What responses do you have to the song above?  May these words be a balm to your soul as we are all trying to live in these Easter-days of life right now.