A "good canoe" life lesson learned and shared by Pastor Rob:
Hundreds of trips around Disney's Tom Sawyer's Island in the Florida heat with a paddle in hand was certain to teach me something...
In high school and college, I worked on the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes in Walt Disney World's Frontierland. After countless trips in the bow telling jokes, or in the stern steering, and always in a coonskin cap, I began to recognize phases in a canoer's summer.
Sometimes, in what I called Bad Canoe Mode, one grumpy person in a boat could sour the entire day. At other times, a canoer could have just one person who laughed and had a great time, which would make the entire day a good one: Good Canoe Mode. These recognitions caused me to try and remain in Good Canoe Mode as much as possible. Each day, I began looking for the smile, laugh, or kind interaction that would make it a good day. And because I expected to find it, I usually did.
Soon I realized it wasn't just true on the river. God gives each of us blessings each day, no matter our circumstances. Every day can be Good Canoe Mode, a blessed day, if we expect to encounter that one thing, whatever it is: one sweet person, one smile, a cool breeze, a special song, or even just a ray of warm sunlight. Bad Canoe Mode offers a sad existence, allowing negativity to set the tone for everything else. Good Canoe Mode offers the right frame of mind to notice and appreciate more joy, more blessings, and more of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
It is additionally joyful to remember that each of us can also be the smile, encouraging word, or beam of light that lifts someone else’s day. Life becomes more joyful and more Christ-like when we live in Good Canoe Mode and encourage Good Canoe feelings in others. Paddle it forward!
Hundreds of trips around Disney's Tom Sawyer's Island in the Florida heat with a paddle in hand was certain to teach me something...
In high school and college, I worked on the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes in Walt Disney World's Frontierland. After countless trips in the bow telling jokes, or in the stern steering, and always in a coonskin cap, I began to recognize phases in a canoer's summer.
Sometimes, in what I called Bad Canoe Mode, one grumpy person in a boat could sour the entire day. At other times, a canoer could have just one person who laughed and had a great time, which would make the entire day a good one: Good Canoe Mode. These recognitions caused me to try and remain in Good Canoe Mode as much as possible. Each day, I began looking for the smile, laugh, or kind interaction that would make it a good day. And because I expected to find it, I usually did.
Soon I realized it wasn't just true on the river. God gives each of us blessings each day, no matter our circumstances. Every day can be Good Canoe Mode, a blessed day, if we expect to encounter that one thing, whatever it is: one sweet person, one smile, a cool breeze, a special song, or even just a ray of warm sunlight. Bad Canoe Mode offers a sad existence, allowing negativity to set the tone for everything else. Good Canoe Mode offers the right frame of mind to notice and appreciate more joy, more blessings, and more of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
It is additionally joyful to remember that each of us can also be the smile, encouraging word, or beam of light that lifts someone else’s day. Life becomes more joyful and more Christ-like when we live in Good Canoe Mode and encourage Good Canoe feelings in others. Paddle it forward!