Dancing Water

I have always loved the water. I don't necessarily love being in the water. It always seemed to me that if you put your body into water you cannot see through, you are just asking for trouble. There are all kinds of things in there, you know. Still, I love to watch the water. It dates back to my childhood I am sure. I can remember as a child going to Candidoda Lake with my family. We would go out on the lake in a row boat, fishing for sunfish. The water was beautiful and the sunlight made the water alive and shimmery, made it dance as the beams bounced. I don't know how many times I got to go, but it became the picture of joy and wonder that stayed with me into adulthood.

A number of years ago I was taught the practice of Centering Prayer. The purpose of Centering Prayer is to sit quietly in God's presence, emptying your mind of other thoughts and filling it with Him. It isn't a dialogue where you talk and get answers, it's intentionally listening and being fully present with God in the limited way that is possible for us. The suggestion, to help you empty your mind of day to day thought and fill it with God, is to use a word or a mental image that help you focus. I am a visual person so my initial choice a picture, the Lincoln Memorial. That is exactly how I saw God, sitting on a huge seat, massive hands and watching over things. I was sure this would be the perfect picture to focus my mind and I thought I was good. This was not a new thought to me, I think God has been the Lincoln Memorial to me forever. Lincoln and I share a birthday, though not, I hasten to add, a birth year. I dont have a clue how that made the Memorial a focal point, but for some things there are not words.

One day however, in a small group, my mental image was abused. Yes, it really was. In fact, it was mocked. When I was open enough to share my visual image my Lincoln Memorial was referred to as cold, unfeeling, unloving and uncaring. There were some allegations about my concept of God. This was all wrong and as I am not all that prone to accepting input from others, it had little effect on me. Only I noticed over the next week or so, I gradually began to find Old Abe less satisfying and less God like. Before long the Lincoln Memorial had become cold and unfeeling and I was in hot pursuit of a new image.

For several annoying weeks I tried one picture after another. Many were good but all of them served more as a distraction than focal points. It was New Years and I was at KenLake Lodge. It was a very mild winter and I sat outside with a clipboard in hand watching the water sparkle. Everywhere the water was touched by the sun's beams came alive and danced. In my mind I was back at Candidoda Lake and I remembered the joy and sense of wonder one more time. I was supposed to be creating only I was just mostly enjoying the temperature and watching the water. I did try hard to look creative when people walked by. I think it took some time before I was smart enough to realize I had stumbled across my new picture, and I have held it since.

Last fall I had an afternoon of water watching, not long but long enough to watch sunlight like diamonds ping cross the waves. There were dazzling rays that seemed to dance along the water's surface for no apparent reason. It was as if God, who loves us in ways we cannot fathom, put on a show just for me. It was a moment of divine confirmation that my mental image was an excellent choice.

The water is a symbol of God for me, and the sunlight is the gift of the Spirit that makes everything come to life. May the Spirit dance across your life today and dazzle you with the brilliance of God's mercy and love.