Staff Blog - Mornings on the Merrimack

 

For the last year, I’ve dropped my daughter off at daycare and driven along Pawtucket Boulevard, passing the beach at Heritage State Park and the UMass Lowell Boathouse before crossing the Rourke Bridge to come into the offices at Harbor. I was always in a rush to get into the office and get started with the day of meetings and to-dos. I like getting into the office first, opening up shop, having quiet before the office is bustling.

 

I’m not sure if it was the beautiful weather beckoning me or if it was something deeper, but over the past few months, instead of racing into the office, I’ve started pulling into the parking lot for the Boathouse. I bring a book (here's what I'm currently reading) or my bible and walk along the riverwalk to find an open bench. And I breathe. And I read. (And sometimes I do both simultaneously!) I start my day with 15 minutes of being. Reminding myself that I’m not a robot. Trying to stay intimately aware of God’s presence all around me.

 

 

This morning, however, I was struck by something. I was facing the water in front of me; a beautiful scene with calm water, a rowing team silently practicing, ducks and pigeons and seagulls floating peacefully. True peace. Beauty. A ‘Selah’ moment. But BEHIND me was a different story entirely.

 

Loud traffic, trucks’ brakes screeching, motorcycles whizzing by, car horns… A cacophony.

 

And it struck me. I have a choice today.

 

A choice to look at the beauty or to listen to the chaos.

A decision to look ahead or to be consumed by what’s behind.

 

 

 

Today, I believe that God is begging us to pay attention to Him in the ‘now.’ Beautiful, rewarding seasons come and go, but so do difficult, desperate ones.

 

Let us rest in the only constant that we'll ever have: El Olam (The God Of Eternity).