May is the month we must fit together Mother’s Day and the opening of fishing season. Jesus called some fishermen to come, follow him, and become fishers of men. Those called ones left boats and oars and nets to enter a life that was uncharted and different. We also hear the call to follow but we are tied to our boats.
We have families we promised to care for and to cherish. We have homes to make hospitable and comfortable. We have work to do, and yet the call is there. We need to be reminded that the disciples left their boats, their nets, their oars. But all those things were near when they needed them. The symbolic leaving of the boats and returning to the boats makes a place for ministry in the everyday for us all. We are in that boat together. Some hauling, some preaching, some in fear, some quelling fears, some rowing. May is a good time to give thanks for boats.
This message is adapted from “Give Us This Day” written by Marj Leegard in the May 2005 issue of Lutheran Woman Today (now Gather) magazine.