Memorial Day Weekend

Good Morning to all of you! I apologize for my tardiness in writing. I have no excuse because I do very little each day and could easily spend more time writing. I guess I must confess to laziness and to pampering myself by doing just what I feel like doing each day. Some days that is just nothing. What can I say? I’m BAD!

Right now I am doing just that. I am sitting in my favorite place in all the world, my comfy lounge chair. This is the chair that sits before my porch windows and swivels in all directions. It lets me see the sun come up in the east, the activity to the north and south, the river flowing by just in front and all the birds and animals doing what birds and animals do. Behind me is the rest of my cottage, my back yard, and the woods. I can’t see that.

I love this panorama before me though. The expanse of water before me is as smooth as glass this a.m. It looks solid and immovable. Still, I know that tons of water, just 50 feet from me, is moving inexorably toward the ocean. Nothing can stop it or impede its progress. It will go on and on until it gets there.

One drop of water can fall in Lake Superior, travel down to Lake Huron, continue through the St Clair River by me, go on through Lake St Clair, the Detroit River, Lake Erie, Niagara River, the Falls, Lake Ontario and on into the St Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean. It can get there if that is its final destination.

My life, and yours, is like that one drop of water; carried along through all the lakes and rivers of time. It goes through babyhood, the teen years, marriage, career, parenthood, middle age, grandparenthood, and on to retirement and/or old age. Finally it will reach its final destination: the Ocean of Forever. There may be interruptions on the way. Even an early stop is possible. The travels of that drop of water, your life, can get waylaid or even used up. One drop of that river could be used to help others: to give a drink to a thirsty deer, to water a violet growing along the way, or to wash the little paws of a finicky raccoon. Another drop could fall into disaster. It could be mixed with mud and mire and never flow on again. Another could be taken up into a cloud and float in ecstasy in the air only to be rained down again into the ordinariness of life.

It desperately needs protection from so many pitfalls. It can be steered by outside menaces and end up in a whirlpool going nowhere or even be annihilated somehow. In any case, that same drop of water needs proper guidance to follow the right course if it is to reach the good destination.
I , like that drop of water, have been steered into tight spots, put into joyful journeys, and even taken up into a cloud and rained back down again. I’m still traveling to my final destination, although because of my age and health, I know I am near the end of the journey. However, I have been steered in the right course by the Word. How grateful I am for the Word. John 1:1, “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Jesus is the Word and He has been steering me along all my life, even when I didn’t know Him as a personal friend and Savior. How grateful I am that He chose to care for me! I am so glad to have Him here with me this morning as I write to you. He is so faithful.

The power that carries the water along in the river out front– I can’t see it—but it is so strong it can carry huge things. The power that carries me along is invisible too. Jesus, the power that is life itself, carries me on. I will rest in His mighty power. He will get me where I need to go.

So, I sit here thinking about the journey of life and of the provision and protection I have had. I praise the Lord for all of it. I am the most fortunate of women. What a glorious gift He has given me! My life has been up and down a lot. However, I am most grateful for all of it. It has been an incredible journey so far. I have wept and learned. I have laughed and learned. I may do more of both, but I know who is in control and the positive ending. Therefore, I can sit here watching the river go by like my life and be certain of the destination of me, a single drop of water that He knows and cares for.

I hope and pray that all of you have a great summer. I look forward to one full of family activity. I think the Lord is giving me another lovely summer on my Canadian island. Getting wifi up there is hard so I have to travel to the club house to send e-mail out. I may not be in contact as often as I would like, but you are always in my thoughts and heart and Jesus is with us always, so we’re OK, right?

God bless you all and I send my love

Irma Jane Fritz-Zager