On a recent cruise that my husband and I took, we visited San Juan, Puerto Rico. We didn’t stay very long, we docked at about 6:30 am or so, but we had to be back at the ship by 1:30pm. We returned to the ship at 1pm just to be safe. Our ship was scheduled to leave the port at 2:00 pm.
Right at 2:00 pm, I heard the ship’s horn. Slowly (so slow that we couldn’t even tell that we were moving) we backed away from the pier, then we stopped. It must have felt like an eternity because I heard the woman in the other stateroom ask her husband, “Is there something wrong with the ship? We’re not moving!” It took nearly 15 minutes to turn the ship in the right direction but we finally were on our way, going ever so slowly out of the bay. About 25 minutes later, we were out to sea and on our way to the next port.
The incident reminded me of our lives. Sometimes our progress seems so slow that it doesn’t even look like we are making any progress, or our progress just stops. Other times we go backwards when we should be going forward; and when we try to readjust and correct our situation then our progress seems so slow and we get frustrated.
The thing is, positive change takes time. If we’ve been doing something for most of our lives, we can’t expect to change “overnight.” If we “backslide” then we need to make a correction and continue going forward. Don’t give up and don’t get frustrated. Be patient with yourself.
If it takes a “long time” to turn a big ship in the right direction, then it will take a long time for us to turn our lives in the right direction. Just remember that all things are possible with God!
Copyright © 2018 Dr. M. Teresa Trascritti
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