Lake or River?

Water is calming to me. It doesn’t much matter what form it takes. A bubbling backyard fountain or crashing waves. The smooth, glistening surface of a lake or the rippling of a river. In a pinch, I’d even take a cement (SEE-ment) pond like the Beverly Hillbillies.

Lately, I’ve really been enjoying Dove Lake, a small lake within walking distance of my home. I have been known to climb up in a nearby tree and gaze through a canopy of green leaves, legs swinging from the sturdy branch, soaking in the beauty of the sparkling sunshine dancing on the water.

The question occurred to me on one of my recent trips around the lake, “Would you rather be a lake or a river?”

Hmmmm....

Having only a rudimentary knowledge of the difference between a lake and a river, my hunch is – river.

A lake doesn’t move. It is confined within its banks. It only moves if acted upon by an outside force like wind or skipping pebbles. You could say lakes are immobile.

I don’t want to be immobile or defined by static boundaries.

A river, on the other hand, is a moving body of water. It begins at its source, maybe as a stream in the mountains or hills, and continues to move toward its mouth where it empties into another body of water – an ocean, sea, another river, or lake.

I want to be a river.

I want to continually honor my source, my Creator, who gives me life. I want to be always growing and learning as I move through the varied landscapes of my life – from the mountain to the whitewater rapids below to the tranquil stream to the place where, like the mouth of the river, I am poured out and become one with my destination.

All the learning and growing and running and pouring is not just for its own sake. Not even just for my sake. It is because when you open yourself to movement, you inspire others to move. It’s likely that when you have made significant life-enriching changes, you were moved by someone else who was a river.

One of my favorite quotes is by Maya Angelou. It is very river-like. “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” That piece of wisdom reminds me that there’s always more space to move into. That I don’t need to be content within the comfortable confines of my small thinking, but that I can run, like the river, with purpose.

This is what the river speaks to me. I want to be a river.