DAY
THREE
Fog can be very interesting if you
really think about it, reflect upon its movements, its coming and going as it
does here. We arose this morning and had
coffee and then sat on the porch for a while looking out at the boats and birds
and tide that had filled the harbor with water over night. It was not nearly as cool as it has been in
days past, but still cool enough to be pleasant—68 degrees. It felt really nice to sit and drink in the
view as we do a lot. The fog was light,
in the distance, covering only a bit of the hillside beyond the campground that
is adjacent to the boatyard. Then, as we
sat and talked and watched the seagulls coming and going, suddenly fog began to
roll in from the east, blocking out the bit of sun that had shown through the
clouds. The fog moved in closer and
closer, soon covering the campground and the boats in the harbor so that all we
could see was just what was directly in front of us. It ended our interesting view, at least for a
while, so we came inside to have breakfast.
Life has fog set in like that, at
times. We think we can see things clearly
and suddenly our vision is obscured by life’s events and we cannot always see
the path that we should follow or know the course to take. Life’s fog is more like the kind we
experience here than the kind we have back home. This fog rolls in, with waves, like the waves
of the ocean. It comes in covering land
and sea, making it impossible to see man or beast or landscape.
Once the fog has set in, one wonders
why continue what you are doing and why not do something else. The fogs in life send us in different
directions to take courses we had not planned otherwise. The fog may come in the guise of an illness,
ours or others for whom we are caretakers, or an issue we may have to deal
with—a job change, a family crisis, a new opportunity. We may not know the course to take and we may
sit idly for a while, just as the boats wait for high tide to return before
they can go back into the ocean to work, but suddenly things change for us and
we see what must be done.
The fog here clears just as quickly
as it comes. It does not linger, as the
fog back home does. Instead, the waves
of fog roll on and dissipate, allowing the sun to shine once more to reveal
what had been hidden by the fog. Our
lives that are fog-laden by life’s challenges are cleared as we seek hidden
truth that will bring about the focus we need.
It is our seeking the way that brings about the answer. God is always present, ready to guide us, but
we often do not include God in our plans.
We want to work things out ourselves and turn to God only when the way
becomes so dark that we cannot see anything that will work for us. Then, we pray.
Lighthouses are numerous in places
with much shoreline and with a large industry that involves boats. Even with modern technology assisting the
boating and fishing industry, lighthouses remain active in many locations to
add a visual dimension to the technological inventions that make life better
for those who work and play in boats.
There are several lighthouses within thirty miles of where we are staying. Here in Parker’s Cove there is not a
lighthouse in the traditional sense.
There is simply a tall pole with a blinking green light on it that comes
on around dusk and turns off around dawn.
The green light blinks off and on all through the night and, I assume,
it is there to let boats that may be seeking the harbor here in Parker’s Cove
to find it, to know for sure that it is there, despite any other equipment they
may have that directs them in the path they should go to reach shore.
The odd thing about the green light
on the pole, though, is that it is obviously on a timer and goes off in the
morning despite the fact that the harbor could be fogged in, as it was
yesterday and today. The blinking green light
could be very useful to some who are looking for a signal from shore that
Parker’s Cove is here with a dock to anchor a boat. It turns off around daybreak, though, even if
it is foggy.
We often look for signs to guide us
when the fogs of life set in and something they are not always there. There are times when the usual signs do not
appear to us and that are when we must raise our awareness to the world around
us to experience life so that it speaks to us in our guide to know the way to
go. Things that in the past have served
as markers for us, people or places or things, may not speak to us in the usual
way and we may need to keep our eyes open for new understandings or
relationships that may give us a fresh approach to the world around us and to
our life’s situation. We can never know
what exactly may speak to us at any given time.
“The
steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they
are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)
There are two islands that connect
to the mainland just west of Digby. The
land that stretches from Digby is called the Digby Neck. When you reach the western end of Digby Neck,
you have to take a ferry to connect to the next island called Long Island. Then, you must drive to the end of Long Island
to the community of Freeport to take another ferry to the community of Westport
on Briar Island. Timing is everything
when you reach the end of each land mass and need to get to the next one. The ferries are timed to leave to go west so
that a person can drive from Digby to the end of Digby Neck and catch a ferry
that leaves on every half hour and then be able to drive to the end of Long
Island and catch the next ferry on the hour.
If you miss the first one, you have to wait an hour to catch the next
one because they only run once an hour from each direction. The ferries run 24 hours a day but only once
an hour in each direction.
This setup does not allow for any
exploring on each island unless one determines that they do not need to get to
a ferry in order to connect to another one in any certain schedule. One can spend as much time anywhere one
desires but with the knowledge that the ferries will be there only at certain
times. It sounds tricky but when you
understand the system it is practical to have it work the way it does. It can sound daunting to try to get to each
ferry on time but it does work out well if you just drive through from one
ferry to another or if you look around and not worry about the schedule and
just enjoy the surroundings.
I have always had a time anxiety
problem. When I am pressed for time, I
usually get very anxious. When there is
a schedule to be kept, I want everything to be taken care of so that the
schedule will fall into place as planned.
I once would plan vacations where we had to be at one point at a certain
time in order for the next thing on the schedule to work out. It caused me great stress if we were running
late and there may be the possibility that we may not reach the destination we
had planned to reach.
In recent years I have become much
better at not being on a schedule all the time and allowing myself to enjoy the
scenery on the journey as well as being at a certain destination at a certain
time. The journey itself holds as much
satisfaction as getting to a certain place.
There is much to be seen and experienced along the way.
This trip, so far, has been very
pleasant and low stress. Even when we
were stuck in traffic in Toronto I did not feel panic or stress because we did
not have to be someplace soon. We had
plenty of time to enjoy what we were seeing around us, even if it was the rear
of another car sometimes.
Life is sometimes a race, not a
journey. There are times when we seem to
rush from one thing to another in order to reach some goal we have set. That is not always bad but it is not always
necessary. There are times when we need
to let the scenery pass by as we travel and simply admire it and enjoy it and
see the pleasure we can gather from being a part of it. We all need to stop and appreciate what and
who is around us as we make our way on the road of life, giving thanks for the
opportunity to be part of the great highway of life.
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