Live Like a River Flows…
“I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.” —John O’Donohue
While hoping someone had a great spring so far in an email yesterday, I was surprised by the flash in my mind of John O’Donohue’s prayer or wish about living like a river flows.
Captured by this wisdom, I am still exploring all it has to offer and invite you to join me in this exploration.
Typically flowing most powerfully in the spring, a river’s water can sweep away the debris of winter and may even change the course of its direction.
Already anticipating summer here in Austin, other places are still experiencing the rush of spring energy. There’s still time to allow spring river-like energy to flow through us and surprise us with its unfolding. What are you needing to let flow away and what might unfold if you gave yourself the freedom to let go?
“Who hears the rippling of rivers will not utterly despair of anything.”
―Henry David Thoreau
I invite you to take time this week to meditate on what a river has to share with you. If you’re able to wander along aside a river for a while, consider that it too is a living being and may have words of wisdom for you, as you walk in silence, listening to its flowing water.
May you be blessed by the wisdom of rivers. And, if it is your prayer too, may you live like a river flows today and always.
River Mystery
In Harmony
“A woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing. She goes where she will without pretence and arrives at her destination prepared to be herself and only herself.”
―Maya Angelou
I believe in all that has never yet been spoken
I believe in all that has never yet been spoken.
I want to free what waits within me
so that what no one has dared to wish for
may for once spring clear
without my contriving.
If this is arrogant, God, forgive me,
but this is what I need to say.
May what I do flow from me like a river,
no forcing and no holding back,
the way it is with children.
Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,
these deepening tides moving out, returning,
I will sing you as no one ever has,
streaming through widening channels
into the open sea.
— from Rilke’s Book of Hours, Rainer Maria Rilke / Translated by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows
Rilke’s words inspired John O’Donohue. How might they inspire you today?
