Many years ago, there was an interesting custom of farm people who carried water in a bucket. They would float a piece of wood on the water to keep it from splashing about and spilling over the sides.

That piece of wood is a lot like Jesus and the splashing water is a lot like us.

Whenever the waters of life splash about too much — whenever they get too stormy — we only need to invite Jesus into the situation. He is most willing to calm the stormy waves and restore serenity to our lives.

We have a good example of this in John’s Gospel. The disciples were in a boat and the sea was stirred up by strong winds. Jesus was walking on the water and came near their boat and they began to be afraid. He then told them to not be afraid, that it was He.

Then a remarkable thing happened. They still were a few miles from shore and they invited Jesus into their boat. But instead, we are told the boat immediately arrived at the shore where they were headed.

There is a lesson here for us. Sometimes when the water bucket of life seems too heavy and is splashing about, Jesus not only wants to stop the splashing, he wants to help carry the bucket!

God bless.