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15. What Is a Harbor? - Wednesday Morning · Family Prayer Podcast

• 0:01
  Good morning, Grace Harbor, it’s Dan!
• 0:03
  Happy Wednesday!
• 0:05
  Let’s see if we can get your brains going with a pop quiz!
• 0:09
  You ready?
• 0:11
  Ok - do you know what a harbor is?
• 0:15
  That’s part of our town name, and I say it all the time,
• 0:19
  but I was wondering recently if you knew what a harbor actually is.
• 0:25
  A harbor is a body of water
• 0:27
  that is both connected to the ocean,
• 0:30
  but also protected from the ocean.
• 0:34
  Does that make sense?
• 0:35
  If you look at a map and follow along the coast,
• 0:39
  you’ll see all sort of squiggles and bumps and curves.
• 0:43
  Sometimes it’ll look like the ocean has fingers reaching inland,
• 0:48
  or it might look like there’s a big lake that connects to the ocean at one end.
• 0:53
  When you look at the names of these bodies of water,
• 0:56
  you’ll see words like bay or cove, gulf or inlet.
• 1:01
  Or sometimes they get really unique names
• 1:04
  like estuary or lagoon or fjord!
• 1:08
  (Depending on where you are in the world.)
• 1:11
  These are all different ways of describing bodies of water
• 1:14
  partially surrounded by land but still open to the sea.
• 1:19
  But for something to be a harbor, it has to have
• 1:23
  a very specific characteristic.
• 1:26
  It has to be a place that’s safe for boats
• 1:28
  and ships to dock or at least drop an anchor.
• 1:32
  Harbors are super important
• 1:35
  because they’re places of safety and calm.
• 1:39
  Either because of the way they’re naturally formed,
• 1:41
  or sometimes thanks to structures that people build, there
• 1:45
  can be a huge storm raging out at sea,
• 1:48
  but the harbor is still safe.
• 1:51
  And so they become places that sailors look for when they know
• 1:55
  a storm is coming, or if they just need a place to rest.
• 1:59
  In fact, that’s part of how our town ended up here.
• 2:03
  Our harbor was well known for being extra safe because we have some low cliffs
• 2:08
  that seem to reach out into the ocean and block even the biggest of storms.
• 2:13
  And back in the day, any place where lots of ships stopped
• 2:17
  was a great place to set up a trading post.
• 2:20
  Eventually, the people working the trading post looked around and thought,
• 2:24
  “You know - this would be a great place for a town.” And Grace Harbor was born.
• 2:30
  You want to know something cool?
• 2:31
  When I looked up “harbor” in the dictionary, it described
• 2:35
  this kind of body of water, but that *wasn’t* the first definition!
• 2:40
  The first definition in the dictionary was:
• 2:42
  a place of security and comfort.
• 2:45
  And that’s because we’ve started to use the word
• 2:48
  to describe all kinds of things that offer to people what harbors offer to ships.
• 2:54
  You could put it this way: a harbor is any place
• 2:58
  that keeps us safe when life gets stormy.
• 3:02
  It could be a place like your house or apartment
• 3:05
  where you feel warm and safe and protected from the world outside.
• 3:10
  It could be a space inside your home, like your bedroom
• 3:14
  where you can find some peace and quiet, or your dinner table where you know
• 3:18
  it’s safe to talk about anything and you can ask questions.
• 3:22
  Sometimes, relationships can be harbors too.
• 3:26
  Like the feeling your get when you're upset and your grown-up
• 3:29
  or a sibling gives you a hug, or when your best friend
• 3:33
  sits with you at lunch when you're having a tough day.
• 3:36
  When you’re with them, you know you’re safe and loved.
• 3:40
  Why don’t you take a moment to answer this question:
• 3:44
  what are your safe places?
• 3:47
  If you need more time, you can pause the podcast, and I’ll
• 3:50
  be right here when you get back.
• 4:21
  I wonder - did anyone have the same answers?
• 4:26
  Did anyone else have an answer that you agreed with?
• 4:30
  That would be kind of cool if your family shared something
• 4:32
  that feels like a harbor for all of you.
• 4:35
  As we get ready to head out of our harbors
• 4:38
  and into the wild world of Wednesday, why don’t we take a moment
• 4:42
  and offer a prayer of gratitude to God for all of these safe places.
• 4:47
  If you want to, you can close your eyes and fold your hands.
• 4:51
  “Dear God, we thank you for this new day,
• 4:54
  and we thank you for all of the harbors in our lives.
• 4:57
  We thank you that there are people and places that make us feel safe and loved.
• 5:03
  When life starts to get stormy, remind us
• 5:06
  that we have harbors we can sail to.
• 5:09
  Amen.” Alright, Grace Harbor!
• 5:11
  Have a great Wednesday, and I’ll talk to you tonight.