Sculling the Thames

Each summer, the Maidenhead Rowing Club offers courses in Learning 2 Row. Each Monday and Wednesday for four weeks throughout the summer, small groups are groomed in the art of sculling. Where better to learn this sport, I thought, as Britain is among the world's leading rowing nations as evidenced by the many Olympian medals and annual regattas.

Acquiring this skill has fulfilled a personal lifetime dream. I remember as a youth, being impressed watching an American television report portrait of an eighty-seven year old British grand dame rowing in the early morning mist near Harvard University. She made the exercise look deceptively effortless.

Somehow I thought that rowing was about strength and endurance. While those are necessary requisites, the key quality required is balance. Seating oneself on a scull is comparable to straddling a toothpick in the midst of the Thames River while hoping to remain dry.

As I find myself once again in the viewing stand for the women's (17-19 June 2010) and men's (4th July weekend) regattas at Henley-on-the-Thames, I'll be focused on the gingerly balance and synchronized efforts of these pros - two essentials that constitute life. God grant us both these qualities in liberal measure as we seek to serve Him, others and self.