An Oasis

I took a friend to my favorite little kayak lake yesterday. She said what I feel every time I go to that little lake, "It is so peaceful here." I often have the lake all to myself. It is a quiet lake, and on my flat water, stable kayak, nothing could happen so I never am afraid to be there alone.
"Except," another friend said, "What if a bad man with a gun comes?"
Well, I suppose that could happen, but why would a bad man with a gun bother coming out to the peaceful lake? The bad man with a gun will go where money, drugs and booze are available. Bad men with guns aren't likely to come target little lakes with mama geese herding their new babies on tranquil waters. Besides, if a bad man came, I would just float in the middle of the lake out of his reach. A bad man with a canoe just stretches even my paranoia too far. This is a lake where nothing happens except peace.

So I can't get Asherel to join me very often when I go to the little lake. She finds it boring. That is what I love about it. So quiet, so undemanding, so gentle. It is too small for noisy motorboats, and tucked away where not many people even know about it. The only other inhabitants are turtles, fish, and birds. An occasional hiker walks the path around the lake, and sometimes horses and riders meander near. Everyone needs a quiet beautiful place like the little lake, a place where they can gaze out with unfocused eyes and breathe in calm. I have found it the surest antidote to despair. Find a corner of the world where it is impossible not to see that God reigns. How blessed I am to have found this oasis from struggle.

Psalm 107: 28-30
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper;
the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when it grew calm,
and he guided them to their desired haven.

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