I don’t know what it is about my thoughts lately, but I find that I am recalling many of the conversations I have had with my Grandmother when I was a young lad. I find myself walking around, doing what I normally do, just my normal day and then I see something that reminds me of a story. Today I visited a beautiful home where many families gather and there in the garden, is a water feature that flows gently … a small waterfall ending in a narrow and straight river over rocks. It is silent and almost perfectly still … yet it is clear that it is flowing, constantly and steadily.

And it reminded me of my Grandmother …

I remember sitting outside in her little courtyard where she had all sorts of plants growing. The courtyard was only maybe about 10-foot by 10-foot square, but she had everything growing in it. There were fruit trees and vegetables as well as flowering and non-flowering plants, there were ever-greens and deciduous plants, creepers and ground covers as well as climbers and hanging baskets. Often as she tended to the garden, she would grumble and complain as she dug at the weeds and pruned the trees and deadheaded the flowers … but as she watered (and it was with a watering can that she watered … no hoses in those days where we were) she was always happy.

‘Be water Dennis’ she would say ‘be water’. Now you have to remember that I was only 7 years old when I left Malta so I wasn’t really able to understand a lot of what she was talking about … but I do remember asking her what she meant … and if I remember right, her reply went something like this …

Water is always refreshing Dennis. It doesn’t really go in with the intention of doing anything but refreshing. It cleans away, it flows where it can, if it hits a wall, it doesn’t argue or force itself but it seeks another way round and if it can’t find another way, it just accepts that it has to stop and wait and it does just that. Water is never stressed … because it is ok with just being what it is. And it doesn’t discriminate. It refreshes everything it can. It cleans everything it can. It gives and envelopes and surrenders and, because of it, life happens … Be like water …

In my young mind I thought that she was being silly. But as I grew, I began to understand her meaning. Yet understanding and being are two very different things. You see, to be like water, you need to be intentional because it goes against our natural human current (pardon the pun). Being human we tend to build blockers as we grow. We call them boundaries or judgements or prejudices or opinions or rights or even beliefs or culture or knowledge. And in so doing, we start limiting our flow so that we engage only in those places (and with the people) that are safe for us or to our liking or that we can get something out of. Sometimes in limiting our flow, we even risk becoming selfish and that’s when stagnation begins to set in for us.

You know, in the bible, we read of love flowing freely. We read of the Spirit moving like the wind, wherever he will go. Without limitation, without discrimination … bringing life and hope and refreshment wherever he goes.

Water washes over rocks that are rough and jagged and eventually turns them smooth. It breaks mountains into sand by its graceful wash. It brings life, it cleanses, and it refreshes. And without it, everything is dead … everything is dry and barren … everything is lost in hopelessness.

So, I am left reflecting … how like water am I? What are my ‘blockers’? And what am I prepared to do about them (if anything at all)? I remember looking in my Grandmother’s watering can after she had finished watering her garden one day and pointing out to her that there was still water left in there. That the sides were still wet … and she smiled saying … that water never flows anywhere without leaving its mark … Like love really … like God …          

How like water are you?