CRADLED

A number of years ago, two young women boarded a ferry to cross the English Channel from England to France. About halfway through their five-hour journey, the ferry hit rough waters, and a crew member later told them they were experiencing one of the roughest seas of the year! The ferry tossed about rather violently on the waves, to the point where even the seasoned crew felt ill.

At the time the ferry hit rough water, the two women were eating a light lunch in the back of the boat. They quickly put their sandwiches away. One woman lamented, “It’s hard to eat while you’re riding on the back of a bucking bronco!”

When it became apparent that the pitching of the boat was not going to abate, one of the women decided to return to her assigned seat in the middle of the ferry. She soon fell sound asleep and experienced no more sea sickness. Toward the end of the trip, after the ferry had moved into calmer waters off the coast of France, the other woman joined her. “That was awful,” she exclaimed. “I was nauseous for two hours!”

Now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
PSALM 12:5 KJV

“I’m sorry to hear that,” said the second woman, almost ashamed to admit that she hadn’t suffered as her friend had.

“Weren’t you sick?” the first woman asked in amazement. “No,” her friend admitted. “Here at our seats I must have been at the fulcrum of the boat’s motion. I could see the front and back of the boat were moving up and down violently, but here, the motion was relatively calm. I simply imagined myself being rocked in the arms of God, and I fell asleep.”

All around you today, life may have been unsettling and stormy, your entire life bouncing about on rough waters. But when you return to the “center” of your life, the Lord, He will set you in safety. Let Him rock you gently to sleep, and trust Him to bring you through the rough waters tomorrow.

No sleep can be tranquil unless
the mind is at rest.

LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECA