Last month, my kids and I traveled to Oregon to visit my brother and his family. One of the activities they’d planned for us was a rafting trip down the Rogue River. The weather was perfect, the scenery stunning, and the company good.The only problem with the trip was that the water level was a little low. This made it imperative that we pay close attention so that we didn’t get trapped in the shallower areas.
Unfortunately, there were a couple of times that we got into trouble and were stuck in shallow water on beds of rock. This wasn’t easy to remedy because the raft was clear full of people including six children and my pregnant sister-in-law. My brother and son had to get out and push/pull/drag/manhandle the raft to get us back into safe waters.
It made me think. The waters were treacherous because there wasn’t enough rain or runoff from the winter. At other times, when plenty of water had flowed into the river, the waters were deep and easier to navigate.
I think that’s how our testimonies are. When they’re properly fed (like a good year on the river) challenges and snares are easier to overcome. When they aren’t, everything is a little more precarious and it’s easier to get hung up on the tricky spots.
I taught a Young Women’s lesson a couple of weeks ago. The lesson reminded us that our testimonies are living things—if fed and cared for, they grow. If starved and neglected, they die. For some of us, faith and caring for our testimonies comes easier. It feels like the natural thing to do. For some of us, we have to be more conscientious and attentive. It isn’t easy. It’s work.
But then we’re able to run the river with fewer scrapes and close calls.
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