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Rowing Shell II
Tricia McGuigan
There is truth in rowing. It is physics. The only non-moving part is your feet. Every other muscle and bone is in leveraged motion against those fixed foot stretchers; from the legs, to the sliding seat, to the swing of the back, to the fingertips that pull the oar against the oarlock that pulls the blade thru the water. Every moving part represents a variable that affects the speed of the boat. A fast rower has learned to optimize the nature of the physics to his advantage, or rather, he has learned to comply with the truth that is inherent in this particular system of levers and angles and pulleys. A rower has to blend his/her own truth (height, weight, length, strength) with that of the boat (the kind of boat, the height of the rigger, the length of the oar).
You can get into the boat and ignore all these variables. You can, but you will not row well. These things are True things, and if you want to row well, you best take the time to find them out. These are laws that pertain to the very nature of things, and are not subject to our whim. These are subtle things, and it takes time being in the boat to learn how they all work. It takes time on the water.
We can say we're rowers, but if we never spend much time in the boat, how will we learn to know how to move with the boat? And if we spend time in the boat and never really listen to the coach, what use is that? I don't want to continually row as a novice.
So it is in knowing You, Lord. I want to know Your truth in a way that makes me move differently for the knowing. You know all truth, including my truth. Coach me, train me, correct me, put me thru the paces that I do not spend the time of my life in vain. Take my every gift and limitation and leverage me into motion.
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