Trimming Your Sails

One of my best memories as a teenager was sailing with my father on his 28-foot sailboat called Mia Carita. 

Mia Carita means my love in Italian. We did not travel much at all when I was younger. My father focused the majority of his time on church ministry. We lived inland and I only got to see the ocean on a few occasions. I believe this lack of exposure to the sea when I was young has given me a great love for it now. I love swimming and often feel refreshed after being in the sea. My father was a great sailor; he was the captain. I guess I considered myself the first mate. We had a few mishaps but everything always worked out and we made precious memories. 

Returning to port one day after being off the coast visiting some islands in Massachusetts, we entered the bay of Narragansett in Rhode Island where my father kept his boat. The seas were very rough and we had a large headsail set which caused us to become seasick. I asked my father what we should do. He mentioned about changing the headsail to a smaller headsail which is called a jib. When he questioned if I would be able to do this I replied with, “I will try.” After I changed and raised the smaller headsail, the boat picked up speed and changed to a smooth motion. We were both astonished and relieved. 

We always need to evaluate how smoothly our lives are moving. Are there unnecessary conflicts and bumps in your life which can be corrected? We need to constantly evaluate our walk with the Lord. It is easy to be distracted, lazy, and busy in life; we neglect growing spiritually. There is always a battle between our flesh and the spirit. Spiritual growth does not occur on its own. It is easy to neglect our daily time with the Lord which should be a foundation for our lives. Everyone needs to continually surrender their lives to our Savior and Lord. There may be habits that we should eliminate from our lives, while adding other beneficial ones.   

It is always important to keep our eyes on our final destination. My mother told me that my father’s last sermon was on the verse Matthew 16:26, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” It’s just how my father and I had the goal to reach the little harbor where he kept his boat on a safe mooring. We need to have our hope, faith, and the goal to be with God in heaven. We need to always do the right thing. I often feel a weakness and heaviness of heart when I neglect my time with God. I believe our adversary would love for us to be weak. When we are weak, he will attack us. Now, more than ever, we need to be strong in our faith. We need to look away from our own strength and look to our Lord and Savior to be the strength of our lives. Are you under submission to the Captain of your soul? ~Charlie DeTellis