Lessons from a River

What makes a river so comforting to people is that it doesn’t have any doubts – it is confident to get where it is going and trusts it will find the way.

Have you ever thrown a leaf onto a river, wondering where it will end up?  This thought crossed my mind when I watched a leaf travel down the street from my neighbors’s hose runoff.  It was carried down to where I collect my mail and continued on down the street.  

What irony to think we move through life in the same way.  We seem to be just passing by. Time gets the best of us as we are on our way to work, school, running errands and we settle in with the setting sun.  I understand  human nature allows us to just let it go as we have things to do and places to be, but I think we might be missing the curious lessons nature teaches us. The lessons present, every time we are.

It seems unlikely that we might draw inspiration from nature, but even in the cities, we are drawn to local parks, smile at the cherry blossoms, and fret at the rain, but it’s there. The tiniest of lessons. 

Life is a journey not made for those who plan to stop.    

Consider this the next time you walk down to a river.  We know from which direction they come from, and we know where they lead.  We know water is our most necessary element of survival, and while it is imperative that we care for our rivers,  it is their journey that has the responsibility as our lifeline. That journey that also brings an understanding to this thing called life.  

Isn’t a river a metaphor for life?  

Think about it.  If you were able to follow that leaf along it’s journey, or float down the river on your own the lessons are quite clear.  The river bends, falls, crushes obstacles, slows, squeezes through narrow passages,  splits or changes direction,  and sometimes it blasts right through.  The rapids are infamous for taunting the fearless, and, the pools for calming the bold..   

So, brave the falls, tackle the obstacles, and don’t plan to take the path of least resistance.  The river will flow and always finds it’s way, like you, just don’t forget to look back, and be reminded that blink of time will never pass by again.

Life will carry us through this journey, how you approach it belongs to you.   

Be present in this moment.

Donna

How about you?  What lesson, if any, has nature taught you?

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The Daily Post: Rapid
WPC: Unlikely Liquid
PC: rafting photo: Funny Sport Rafting