One of my favorite spots in Texas so far is the falls and rushing water found at Pedernales Falls State Park.  I have always been fascinated by flowing water, the sound of it thrashing through crevices or smoothly flowing around a small obstruction.  I am as content sitting on a ledge listening the thunderous sounds of a fast flowing stream as I am sitting in close to watch the smallest flow of water meticulously finding a path around the contours of the rock.  Nothing seems to be able to stop the flow short of a dam.  Regardless of the obstacles, a path is eventually found.  The contour is sometimes very sharp due to the recent breakaway of a portion of the rock, but over time, despite the deepest cuts and scars etched into the rock, the surface slowly gains a smooth feel due to years of water polishing the sharp edges away.

Water, a metaphor of life!

It is no wonder that the use of water as a metaphor for life is so prevalent in many of the religions of the world.  Often, it is the life-giving aspect of water that is so often referred to as it enriches the soil and breaks free the dormant life found in the seedling.  Or water is often used to illustrate the absence of life.  It is the scene of the dessert that evokes images of the parched earth, straining for any relief that the tiniest amount of moisture can bring, evidenced by the sprouting of dessert flowers after the smallest of rains.  But it is the flowing water that evokes a different image that speaks to the flow of life, just as we describe the flow of the stream.

Life is this flowing experience that often takes a course we do not plan.  Life, the water, runs into the walls of our lives, the rock that serves as walls for the stream.  Sometimes the wall gives way, our lives seem to crumble around us without explanation.  The water may not be able to break through obstacles, but it will find a path around until over time a more direct path can be carved out.  Life often takes a similar path.  We are impacted by the path ahead of us.  We often have to change course or direction.  But just as the source of the water comes from way up stream, the source of our life comes from our creator and sees no end.  We continue to flow, to move forward despite the sharp edges that life inflicts upon us, yet over time the sharpest of edges will slowly be rounded and smoothed away.  The sharper the edge, the longer it may take, but the edge will be tempered.  Life will only stop moving forward when we are lost to this world for another place, just as water will only stop flowing when it is dammed up or its run is depleted.

Conclusion

In the Catholic tradition, we have been observing Lent, in preparation for Easter Sunday when we commemorate the risen Christ.  Lent is a time marked by the dessert motif, a time of dryness, where the rivers of life have dried up, but the seeds of life only remain dormant.  Nothing worse than walking into the ministry office and reaching for the candy jar, only to find rocks where there was once chocolate!

Yet, we await the risen Christ and the wellspring of life in his resurrection.  The dry bowl does not signify death, at least a permanent one.  Life does not stop during Lent. We live, we work, we love, we hurt, and are reminded of the scars that invade our life on this earth.  But we are also reminded that God can smooth the sharpest edges of our lives.  That redemption comes from the well-spring of God and God’s loving kindness.  The waters flow and seep into the ground restoring the water table, just as the love of Christ seeps into the deepest recesses of our lives, soothing the deepest aches and pains of the body.