The other morning Judie and I went sea kayaking out on Puget Sound. It was a beautiful fall morning. Bright and sunny; about 58 degrees when we set out. The amazing thing was that the waters of our Salish Sea were almost perfectly calm — still, beautiful, peaceful.
Judie and I are not in the best of shape. We take a safe senior approach to exercise. Our style of kayaking that day was to paddle for a few hundred yards, stop paddling for a moment, and then glide across the glassy waters. Eventually we would come to rest and just sit there floating on the water. We did this for over an hour. I really enjoyed this rhythm because it caused me to discover an amazing interior stillness which mirrored the stillness of the water.
Our journey on Puget Sound reminded me of these favorite words from the 23rd Psalm: “He leadeth beside the still waters; he restoreth my soul.” Judie and I returned from our voyage feeling both physically and spiritually refreshed. This adventure taught me that contemplative prayer can take place anywhere and can happen spontaneously out in God’s beautiful creation.