As a child, one of my favorite Bible stories, maybe because I loved to fish, included a big storm, a small boat, rough waters, and some fishermen. 

The disciples were in a boat crossing the Sea of Galilee when a ferocious storm blew up. As the disciples hovered in fear of the bottom of the small boat, Jesus came to them, walking across the water. Now, that is a miracle, and typically the story stops here, but an unrecognized miracle actually begins here. 

I have used this little story before for leaders and organizations. However, I am no longer in that line of work. Yet, in retirement, I find Jesus’s message to Peter is still appropriate in the hyperactive world in which we live.

As Jesus approached, their boat that was tossing this way and that in the rough waters. He called to Peter to GET OUT OF THE BOAT!  To do precisely the opposite of what sailors in small boats know to be wise advice – to stay in the boat.  We find in Jesus’s challenge to Peter a  vital message for every one of us.

Sometimes we need to get out of the boat that carries all of our activities and anxieties.  Then we need just to simplify and focus on the people we love and who love us; our friends and their needs; and, of course, our four-legged love ones, too.