The Croc Closest to the Canoe (06/10/2026)

It was going to be one of those days. I could tell. And my friend’s adage came to mind, “deal with the croc closest to the canoe.” I asked myself which of the multiple issues demanded attention first. Then I remembered another friend’s words, “start with prayer and the rest will go better.” The issues before me clearly needed prayer before I tackled them, but more importantly, I needed prayer for me, to ground me, to remind me of my purpose, to seek guidance and grace for what lay ahead. Prayer won out.

It is so easy to jump start our days or time off or anything on our multiple lists with a burst of energy and attention to needs around us, but the LORD wishes us to start in the LORD in whom we live and move and have our being. Whether it be a day, a trip, a task – they will all go better if we begin them in the LORD, consciously seeking the LORD’s guidance and grace for what lays ahead and even offering what is to come as our gift to the LORD. The world won’t necessarily see the difference. It won’t make a great selfie post for Facebook. But it could make all the difference to us individually and to our lives and ultimately to the world.

The sad thing I have noticed in recent years is putting off prayer or abandoning it all together. True, it doesn’t have a deadline looming, and it doesn’t make a great post on social media. I worry that we’ve lost the understanding that it is in the LORD that we live and move and have our being and that that primary and primal relationship is essential to all we do and are.

As we continue our journeys of faith, hope and love let us do so in constant communication with “headquarters.” Let us recognize that we are only because He is and that should tell us that it is only through that relationship that we will make headway anywhere else in this world. Let’s pay attention to the croc closest to the canoe, for sure. But first, let us remember to give thanks to the one who issued us the canoe and calls us to this journey.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.