Dragging Your Anchor

Do you have something that is keeping you firmly anchored in your past? Perhaps childhood abuse. Perhaps rape. Perhaps debilitating injury. Perhaps the loss of a child. Whatever that anchor may be, you find yourself incapable of moving past it and moving on with life.

Or perhaps you are dragging some anchor that is keeping your forward motion to a snail’s pace. Perhaps disappointment. Perhaps confusion. Perhaps chronic illness. Whatever that anchor is, it is limiting your ability to move forward with any kind of success. 

Now, when I think of dragging an anchor, it’s nearly always in the negative sense (as illustrated above.) In fact, I did an informal poll of my coworkers asking: “What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the phrase ‘dragging your anchor’?” Responses included:

• holding you down
• An anchor dragging the sea floor to physically stop the ship
• Slowing down
• Cannot make a decision; going very slow
• Trying your best to stop

Well, I’m not nautical in any sense of the word, so I reached out to a friend who is a Navy vet. I asked him, “What are circumstances under which you might choose to drag the anchor—if any?”

Here is his response: “You drag an anchor to keep the bow into the wind to avoid a possible rollover. If you lose the ability to control the ship’s steerage you are in trouble—unless you drag an anchor!”

Mind blown! Sometimes it is good to drag an anchor. But what anchor? Hebrews 6 has the answer. “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and steadfast. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus our forerunner has entered on our behalf” (Heb. 6:19-20). What is that hope, that anchor? It is the unchangeable God who has promised His children that He will carry them through the storms that come our way in this life, and bring us safely into His harbor. And what He has promised, He will do!

Psalm 37:5, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will act.”

Drag that anchor!