Despite my best efforts, as my trip to Russia approaches there are some details that just aren't figured out yet. They won't be until I arrive where I am going. This always bothers me because I like to have my travel plans well thought out, especially when travelling to completely unfamiliar territory. Traveling to a place where the geography, culture, language, alphabet and customs are completely unknown is disorienting enough. Having my plans all laid out helps me orient myself, helps me to calm anxiety, helps me to feel like I have some control in the midst of what feels like a loss of it.
This upcoming trip reminds me of my dislike of being disturbed. In the midst of my obsessing over the details of my trip, worried about how disorienting it will be, I heard another pastor read a part of prayer. It was what I needed to hear. It is from the explorer Sir Francis Drake. He prays:
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
I worry sometimes that my dreams are too small, that I have lost my thirst, that I have stopped looking heavenward. As much as I don't like it, I know I need to be disturbed.
3 comments:
Hey, Matt...
I hear you. When I travel, I like to have a handle on my trip...in charge of accommodations, routes of travel, sites to see, etc. Sometimes I may plan too much and should just go with the flow (at least for part of the trip.) I look at your adventure in a different light. You are not really a traveler...you are an explorer. When you think of all the famous explorers, they had little information on which to rely and they were seeking new horizons. I think that you fall in the explorer category and so it is acceptable to have some things that are not clearly defined. So, explorer Matt, enjoy the journey and remember that God is going with you. Peace. Mike
Hey Matt,
Good luck with the trip. It is going to be great.
I have found that when I travel, I like to have a plan, but I quickly always have to scratch it and find something else. The reason? My plans don't always happen the way I want them to.
Life can be like that, just remember that and things will all be cool.
The prayer is beautiful. I confess that I haven't so much prayed it as lived it. Much like you I do not like to be disturbed. It is far easier to fine a comfort zone and grow comfortable in it. Yet, I have experienced being jolted out of that comfort zone into uncharted seas where life is lived more vibrantly and closer to God. Would that my experience enable me to more earnestly pray the prayer.
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