Living Water And The Shining Life

It might be said that each of us is a mirror reflecting the experiences that have made us who we are. What people see today is a kaleidoscope of my yesterdays. The joys, the fears, the affirmations. You and I are complex creatures who, over time, adjust and adapt into the people we are today. The question is: “Who will I be tomorrow?” And that question, perhaps rephrased into: “Who am I?” is the doorway to discovery. It’s a sacred question, a holy wondering. If and when you ask it, the light is beginning to slip through the cracks. Regardless of faith traditions, people have expressed this holy wondering for ages. Your next door neighbor, people in the Great Depression, St. Paul in the magnificent Letter To The Romans, Moses, the male and the female who emerged from a cave, looked up into a starlight night and wondered: Why? Who? Am I merely the sum of my parts, my experiences? I offer you this answer: I am made to mean something. I am not an accident. I count. And so do you. Yesterday I collected stones washed up on the beach. Each was different from the other and they all glistened in the surf. The water covering made them shine. But when they dried out, the luster was gone. It was the water that made them beautiful in their diversity and in their commonality. The water of hope, of faith, of sacred awareness brings together all the experiences of our lives. The Christian scriptures called it Living Water.
I can never escape the reality of my experience, but that reality does not identify me, nor does it guide my way. You, either. In faith, in trust, in hope we shine because the sacred surf of grace, mercy, and forgiveness has washed over us. And the stunning truth is, the shining surf is a gift to every culture, every society, every race, every identity, every human being. Even me. Even you. I am not merely a composite of yesterdays. I am a creation, using my yesterdays, that shines in Living Water and walks toward tomorrow with hope. You, too.