I would have never uttered those words in the past! I would not stand to be corrected on anything. But I sit quietly now on the boat, tied to the dock, the fog has lifted, literally and figuratively, and now I can see! I’m up North near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, away from my busy city life, experiencing the quiet outside the small town of Ely, Minnesota (population just over 3,000 humans and an untold number of wolves and bears).
Two loons just flapped their wings over me and now a lone loon flies and cries a hauntingly, sad song. Two more follow the path of the former three and that makes five loons.
It’s taken me a week to settle in to the stillness here. I admit that and again, I don’t admit to much. I’ve felt a deep inner restlessness all week and I’ve taken it out on my young daughter with words like: “if you don’t stop watching TV, we are not coming back next year!” (you say, “TV in the Boundary Water Canoe Area, what, how can that be?” Yes, satellite television on the cusp of the BWCA and oh how it adds to my challenge of sinking into stillness!) The truth is, my daughter may not appear to settle in externally, but neither have I, internally…
Until now.
The beauty of the morning beckoned me from the couch where I sat indoors to the incredible and majestic wilderness outdoors. One hour into it, I stand corrected.
God’s creation and His reflection in all of it surrounds me. From the lake water lapping against my boat, to the cry of the wild, lonely loon, to the turtle’s head bobbing nearby, to the sun shining warmly and gloriously, there is no mistaking just how corrected I stand.
No, I am most certainly not the creator. I am the created and I have resisted all the Creator planned for me in earlier days: 365 times 53 equals a lot of days that I forged my own path. Coming back to this special place on Burntside Lake, where I’ve been catching frogs since I was a wee six, I come face to face with my former self and all her self-seeking, self-centered, self-destructive ways of rebelling against God, in too many ways to mention. There is a palpable pain inside me as I face the wide swath of the wreckage of my past.
Oh my! One more loon heads to meet the other five and that makes six loons.
In the stillness here, I stand corrected. I seek peace and reconciliation. I turn to Proverbs 3:5 in the “Good News Bible” I purchased at a used bookstore in town years ago. It’s written in “Today’s English Standard Version” and reads: “Trust in the Lord will all your heart, never rely on what you think you know (hmmm, my first mistake). Remember the Lord in everything you do (that would be my second mistake) and He will show you the right way. Never think you are wiser than you are (sadly, I thought I was wise in yester-years…my third problem), simply obey the Lord (yikes, way beyond my fourth) and refuse to do wrong (I’m losing count). If you do, it will be like good medicine, healing your wounds and easing your pains.”
My, is that ever reassuring and true. I do know the “good medicine” that has healed my many wounds.
Indeed, I stand corrected. I’ve done wrong for too long.
In closing, I turn to the first verse I recall reading in God’s Word– Psalm 46:10. In this version, it reads: “Stop fighting,” says the Lord, and “know that I am God.”
I give, I surrender …and I stand corrected.
And changed.
p.s. one loon ducked into the water just in front of me, that makes seven!
p.p.s. In what ways, do you stand to be corrected?