Skip to content

We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.

Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.

Help Now >

Sometimes moving forward means moving the canoe

Free World Class Education
FREE Catholic Classes

By Mary Regina Morrell
Catholic Online

"Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We also will come with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, "Children, have you caught anything to eat?" They answered him, "No." So he said to them, "Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something." So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish." John 21:3-6

It seems like a lifetime ago when my husband and I and our six sons took our first camping vacation with our friends, John and Rose, and their five kids. It was a "dry-run," so to speak, to prepare us for our planned cross-country trip the next summer.

We chose a lovely campground in Virginia and set off, armed with the essentials - tents, sleeping bags, snacks, ghost stories and an unusually ample supply of toilet paper.

Upon arriving, we set up home base and proceeded to investigate our surroundings to find out what kind of activities were available for our 11 children.

Our husbands, of course, set off to discover the manly activities that would nourish their adventurous spirits. They found the lake and an empty canoe.

Early the next morning Rose and I walked them down to the water and listened as they planned their adventure. The "men-folk" would be gone for hours, they said, so the "women-folk" shouldn't worry! Always the jokesters, those two.

We watched them climb into the canoe with their stuff, turn their backs to the shore and start rowing. Rose and I stood chatting while the kids collected rocks, but after five minutes or so we realized our guys were still just about where they started, all the time rowing, harder and harder, until John was breaking a sweat.

Maybe it was our laughter that got John's attention, or maybe he just wanted to check on their progress, but what he discovered when he finally turned around was that, in spite of all their effort, they had moved only about a foot away from the shore.

Apparently the current at that particular part of the lake was moving so strongly against them that the work of rowing was proving futile as they tried to move forward.

Eventually, after they regained their composure, the "men-folk" overcame their obstacles, but not before earning the auspicious title of "Men-Going-Nowhere!"

At one time or another, most of us have found ourselves in that little canoe, where no matter how much energy or effort we put into something, we are unable to move forward.

Whether it is in our personal lives, our emotional lives or our spiritual lives, we then have a decision to make. Do we sit in the canoe and pray for the current to change; do we give up altogether, or do we put down our oars and pray for the strength to move the canoe to a place where the current is running with us?

Simon Peter knew that place of being unable to move forward.

At least twice in the Gospel we hear the story of Peter and the disciples spending a night in the back-breaking labor of fishing, throwing their nets into the sea and bringing them back empty. It would have been easy to give up, or wait for the tides to change, but Peter put his faith in Jesus who told him to take his boat out into deep water and lower his nets.

Peter was no doubt exhausted, as were the rest of the disciples, but his words are an inspiration for all of us who find ourselves, from time to time, like "men-going-nowhere."

He said, "Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets."

The strength to lower the nets, or move the canoe, is always ours if we just ask for it, and trust that it will be given.

Contact

Cattholic Online
https://www.catholic.org CA, US
Mary Regina Morrell - Author, 661 869-1000

Email

mreginam@aol.com

Keywords

Trust, moving forward, canoe, nets

More Catholic PRWire

Showing 1 - 50 of 4,716

A Recession Antidote
Randy Hain

Monaco & The Vatican: Monaco's Grace Kelly Exhibit to Rome--A Review of Monegasque-Holy See Diplomatic History
Dna. Maria St. Catherine Sharpe, t.o.s.m., T.O.SS.T.

The Why of Jesus' Death: A Pauline Perspective
Jerom Paul

A Royal Betrayal: Catholic Monaco Liberalizes Abortion
Dna. Maria St.Catherine De Grace Sharpe, t.o.s.m., T.O.SS.T.

Embrace every moment as sacred time
Mary Regina Morrell

My Dad
JoMarie Grinkiewicz

Letting go is simple wisdom with divine potential
Mary Regina Morrell

Father Lombardi's Address on Catholic Media
Catholic Online

Pope's Words to Pontifical Latin American College
Catholic Online

Prelate: Genetics Needs a Conscience
Catholic Online

State Aid for Catholic Schools: Help or Hindrance?
Catholic Online

Scorsese Planning Movie on Japanese Martyrs
Catholic Online

2 Nuns Kidnapped in Kenya Set Free
Catholic Online

Holy See-Israel Negotiation Moves Forward
Catholic Online

Franchising to Evangelize
Catholic Online

Catholics Decry Anti-Christianity in Israel
Catholic Online

Pope and Gordon Brown Meet About Development Aid
Catholic Online

Pontiff Backs Latin America's Continental Mission
Catholic Online

Cardinal Warns Against Anti-Catholic Education
Catholic Online

Full Circle
Robert Gieb

Three words to a deeper faith
Paul Sposite

Relections for Lent 2009
chris anthony

Wisdom lies beyond the surface of life
Mary Regina Morrell

World Food Program Director on Lent
Catholic Online

Moral Clarity
DAN SHEA

Pope's Lenten Message for 2009
Catholic Online

A Prayer for Monaco: Remembering the Faith Legacy of Prince Rainier III & Princess Grace and Contemplating the Moral Challenges of Prince Albert II
Dna. Maria St. Catherine Sharpe

Keeping a Lid on Permissiveness
Sally Connolly

Glimpse of Me
Sarah Reinhard

The 3 stages of life
Michele Szekely

Sex and the Married Woman
Cheryl Dickow

A Catholic Woman Returns to the Church
Cheryl Dickow

Modernity & Morality
Dan Shea

Just a Minute
Sarah Reinhard

Catholic identity ... triumphant reemergence!
Hugh McNichol

Edging God Out
Paul Sposite

Burying a St. Joseph Statue
Cheryl Dickow

George Bush Speaks on Papal Visit
Catholic Online

Sometimes moving forward means moving the canoe
Mary Regina Morrell

Action Changes Things: Teaching our Kids about Community Service
Lisa Hendey

Easter... A Way of Life
Paul Spoisite

Papal initiative...peace and harmony!
Hugh McNichol

Proclaim the mysteries of the Resurrection!
Hugh McNichol

Jerusalem Patriarch's Easter Message
Catholic Online

Good Friday Sermon of Father Cantalamessa
Catholic Online

Papal Address at the End of the Way of the Cross
Catholic Online

Cardinal Zen's Meditations for Via Crucis
Catholic Online

Interview With Vatican Aide on Jewish-Catholic Relations
Catholic Online

Pope Benedict XVI On the Easter Triduum
Catholic Online

Holy Saturday...anticipation!
Hugh McNichol

Join the Movement
When you sign up below, you don't just join an email list - you're joining an entire movement for Free world class Catholic education.

Catholic Online Logo

Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.

Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.