Walking on Water

With the story

Of Peter walking on water,

We often think of the lesson

Learned by his falling into the sea,

Becoming afraid of the storm

And taking his eyes off the Lord.

And indeed,

It's good to learn

From others' failures.

But what about his reasons and success?

After all, he's the second

And only other person

Besides Christ

In the history of the world

To walk on water.

I always wondered why he asked

The Lord to bid him to come to him -

Was it because he wanted to walk on water, too?

Was it because he just wanted to be with the Lord?

I think it might be because

He felt safer standing on the surface of even a tempestuous sea with the Savior

Than he did sticking with the standard style of sea stability during storms in his day.

There was no commandment for Peter -
And is none for any of us -
To walk on water,
To do something
No one has done before,
Especially something that breaks
Some previously perceived physical law or
Limit to human capacity.

But he still did it.
Some mix of personal motive
And the Spirit's prompting.

So, perhaps,
When our own storms rage
Or when we insert ourselves in the storms of others
Either out of stewardship or friendship,
Perhaps we should
Abandon the ship
Of conventional certitude
About what the problem and/or solution is,
Espying where the Savior is
And striving for his position
No matter how precariously impossible
It may appear to reach
Or stay
There.

Not being bound by laws of nature or norm -
But not breaking them either -
Only
Transcending.

And, inevitably,
We'll fall short.
But isn't that what Christ
Is there fore?

Saying, "Come,"
And then saving us
When we falter.

Matthew 14: 22-23