Do you have a treasure chest in your memory of PEAK EXPERIENCES??? By that, I mean those special moments in life which somehow touch your soul to its very core — which are transcendent in some way — and which remain within your heart forever…
While vacationing in northern New Hampshire several years ago, we were driving on a beautiful forested back road alongside a little river. It had been a rainy Spring, so the water was really rushing over the rocks. “Let’s stop,” said I, “and we can sit awhile!!”
As we scrambled down to the riverside — the sound of the water became deafening… we could FEEL the power as it roared past us! We sat down on the riverbank — but feeling an urge to get even closer — and spying a pathway of rocks from the shore to a flat stone in the middle of the river — I yelled to Dwight “ I am going to climb out to sit on that rock!”
The sky was a brilliant clear blue, majestic evergreens were towering on both sides, and the sun was glistening off the tumbling water as it rushed past— so loud that it drowned out the rest of the world and any other thoughts in my head, aside from just BE-ing in that place — in that moment.
The words “holy temple” came to mind…— as did medieval mystic Meister Eckhart’s quote:
“God is a great underground river that no one can dam up and no one can stop.”
For those incredible moments, I wasn’t simply SEEING the river, I felt I was PART of that river — that I actually had BECOME the river… that amazing underground RIVER OF GOD.
Never let it be said that spiritual wisdom comes only from books or teachers or rituals. God is ever-ready to touch our souls in the most surprising ways — even in the middle of a river! But — why NOT a river? As Irish author, priest, philosopher John O’Donohue noted:
“The river is a miracle of presence.
Each place it flows through is the place that it is…”
Is it not the same with God?
Wherever we experience the “flow” of God is where God is.
God is with us every single moment… “closer than the air you breathe.” ( Psalm 35:38 ) God is ALWAYS flowing through us…
One of our top choir favorites is a choral anthem written by Linda Marcus (lyrics) and Jack Feldman (music) and arranged by John Leavitt — RIVER IN JUDEA (click here to listen — and come to church on Sunday to hear out choir sing it!). It speaks of a —
sweet, freely-flowing river that everybody knows…
a river which fills us up with hope and good-will — and the will to go on…
It’s a singing, ringing river that our soul cries out to know…
When we are weary and downhearted, we long for the peace it brings…
The secret to finding this healing river of God? I believe the answer can be found in one of its lines:
“Pausing in stillness“
We are people who so often seem to be in such a rush! In our frenetic lives, how often in our day do we pause in stillness to listen for God — allowing ourselves simply to feel God flowing within us?
No frantic searching necessary.
Just be still —
Sink your roots deeply into the Great Underground River of God within yourself,
Then, drink ….
Sink — and drink… Sink — and drink… Sink and drink…