Stuck in the current

Autumn leaves are swiftly carried down the Salt Fork river near Homer Lake.

It was a beautiful fall morning; the leaves were changing, the crisp air and blue skies were fantastic. I was walking along the Salt Fork river and noticed that the water was rather high. We have had an abundance of rain this year. The river was wide, strong and swift. There is a landing that appears in the center of the river most fall seasons. This year, however, with the river being up the landing is covered, and in it's place is a snarl of branches and other objects that have found the high spot.

The strong currents boiled and rippled as they carried the force of the water around the submerged island. It was amazing to see the strength of the river, even though it is rather shallow and placid most of the time. Moving along with the current were leaves that had fallen from trees along the banks, moving down river as the river carried them down stream.

What I noticed is that each leaf was on it's own path. Some leaves went under water and popped up again unharmed on the other side of the debris. Some leaves were caught in an adjacent current and taken around the pile. Other leaves were less fortunate, and they were slammed up against the center of the submerged island of debris.

This made me think about life. Some of us make it around barriers without any problems. Others catch a lucky break at the last minute and weave around problems because something reaches out and steers us safely around the obstacle. Others run head first into problem, despite trying hard to not let it happen.

No matter how hard we try sometimes, we just end up getting stuck and wrapped up and not moving forward. It happens to the best of us. We plan, we do all the right things, we even feel the momentum moving in the right direction. Then things suddenly change and we end up getting stalled out instead of moving forward.

So what can we do? We can realize that the current may take us places we didn't plan on going. Life is always changing, and even with the best intentions it may lead us down a rough or dead end road. Relax...everything doesn't always happened as planned. Sometimes it just takes a little effort to get the momentum moving again, and back on track.

The worst thing to do is give up. There are always options, and in the heat of the moment it may not be apparent what to do in order to get around the obstacle. Sometimes a little reflection, a few days of thinking, and asking others for help gets us moving in the right direction.

I've seen this graphic a few times on the internet:

Isn't this the truth!

Keep pushing through your problems. Tackle your issues. Destroy your barriers. You never know what lesson will come from getting stuck in the current.