Month: May 2019

Waterfalls are beautiful, inspirational, and awesome (in the true sense of that word). There are tiny waterfalls that may dry up during hot summer months and there are enormous waterfalls like Niagra Falls that are continuous and powerful. They are wonderful to watch, the power that is involved and the interplay of light, sound, motion, and sensation are truly an experience to be savored.

I think there is something else about waterfalls that we do not often consider. Every waterfall comes from a stream of some sort. Small creeks to powerful rivers can all produce waterfalls and this makes me think that there is something to be learned in these natural wonders. The ancient philosopher, Heraclitus, said that “no man steps into the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man”. The river is, of course ever changing, as it flows.

A waterfall represents the breaking up of the stream into millions of drops of water as it flows from higher to lower stream beds. If we think of streams as metaphors for life itself, we have something to learn. First, that life is not all that it seems at the surface. Below the surface, there is a flow going on that is never at rest. Second, life like the stream is ever changing. Life continues to move forward, with or without us wanting to go. Third, water itself has enormous power and can be used to wear away even the largest mountain.

If you live life long enough, the flowing stream we call life is going to fall and be broken into millions of little pieces. It is just not possible to stop it from happening. Someone beloved dies, relationships end and we are broken into millions of pieces. And yet, if you stand at the bottom of the waterfall, you will find a stream that flows away from the falls, with all of its pieces back in place.

We fear the waterfalls of life. Death is overwhelming, break ups are crushing, and still the stream flows from one level to the next. What gets us (and the stream) to the next level is the waterfall. We have to believe that at the end of the day, all of the water drops come back together in a stream that once again becomes more peaceful and calm.

Don’t fear the waterfalls in life. Like the stream, life might break into a million little pieces, but life will come back together and flow at a new level. Holding back the water never works, so don’t try to stop the flow of life. Instead, be confident that no matter how high the waterfall, at the bottom, there is a new stream.

TMM

This phrase, “dance with who brung ya” is familiar to people in Texas who were around when Darrell Royal was the University of Texas football coach. The meaning is pretty clear, you are usually better off using the players and plays that got you to where you are now.

Most people do exactly that, dance with who brung ’em. We keep doing what we have always done. The danger with this is that there comes a point when being loyal turns into failure. A colleague of mine (and I am sure he didn’t coin this) loved to say, “If you keep doing what you have been doing, you are going to get what you have always got”. Isn’t this a definition of insanity? You keep doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.

The sad thing is, we keep doing the same thing in our spiritual lives. We simply do what we have always done: go to church, go to Sunday school, tithe, and attend Wednesday night services. We expect that this will make for a strong spiritual life, but it doesn’t. Quite often we are not really invested in what we are doing, we are just checking things off our to do list. We keep “dancing” with a very basic and childish idea of what faith and spiritual life is and expect that we will be blessed.

In the letter to the Corinthians, we read that Paul wanted to feed these new Christians solid food, but they were only ready for milk. His point to them (and us) was they were not growing, they were choosing to be stuck at the infant stage of the spiritual life. They kept dancing with who brung em. This might work for football, it does not work in the spiritual life.

Richard Rohr speaks of us being in an ever changing dance, as we see in the Trinity. The dance steps continuously change, but the dance goes on, to new places. Sometimes scary places, but we dance together. The Trinity is Father, Son and Spirit. I believe our dance is us, God, and our spiritual community. If any one of the partners is missing, there is no balance, we are dancing alone!

Thomas Merton said, “dance in this sun, you tepid idiot”. He was referencing the idea that we have discovered that God has “found” us, that we have always been with God and that all we really need to do is dance the Holy dance with our Creator. The steps don’t matter, just let God lead and let’s dance with the one who has always been our Partner.

TMM

Have you ever had someone come up and start to speak, only to say “Oh, I thought you were somebody else”? It does happen, we have all done it. You thought you recognized the person until they turned or until you got close and it became clear that it wasn’t who you thought it was. When I have done that, I felt a bit silly, a bit uncomfortable, maybe even a bit embarrassed. I have learned to make a brief conversation out of it with the have a little laugh and move on. I have even met a few nice people along the way, a nice surprise. Sadly, there is no small number of people who feel ashamed and become angry at themselves for making that mistake…….or any mistake come to think of it. The worst mistaken identity is how we see ourselves. When we feel ashamed, we mistake ourselves for someone who is perfect. When we let the world we live in identify us, we go along with it. What we achieve, what we have, even how nice and kind we are, these are all mistaken identities. Yes, even the nice and kind identity can be a mistaken identity on our parts. If we are nice or kind or even worship God because that is what we are supposed to do, we are mistaking our ego’s identity of us for our true selves. In the Gospel of John, Jesus explains to us what our true identity is supposed to be. In the 17th chapter, Jesus speaks to the Father and describes what it is to be one with the Father. He also says that we can be the same, one with the Creator of all. Is that not heaven? To be one with our Creator? And yet, in these verses, most of us do not find ourselves or even consider the possibility that this could be our relationship to God. Most often, we do not believe we deserve such a relationship and that is because the Church has not taught us that this relationship is why we are created. I think I will stop this mistaken identity problem. I am going to resolve to let the Creator define me. I am going to believe that Jesus meant what he said when he described a life in which I am one with God. It is easier than you think, Jesus is that life that let God provide the identity. This is what Jesus meant when he said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life…”. We can be what Jesus was, he taught us that. We have to quit mistaking the world’s or the Church’s definition of us and use the one He gave us. Be who you are in God, let God identify you. TMM