I have to laugh on these day 7 days as we are supposed to take ourselves to these outdoor places. However, as it is winter and I have no para-transit services for a few more weeks, I kind of have to improvise and be creative.
For today, we were supposed to take ourselves to a body of water and ask the water to pour its wisdom over us. Use streaming to learn from water’s qualities what you need to live with. Cluster about something living in water. Dialogue with the teacher of the water.
Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Ah well I can kill two birds with one stone and take a shower. I love showers. Turn the lights on, Zoë will yell down the hallway. I love taking showers in the dark at times – ok, so at this point in the day, it is not exactly like dark, but the water sounds differently when I am showering with the lights off then when they are on. Not sure why that is, it just sounds different. Maybe with the lights on I am thinking more about why I am there. In the darkness, or less lightness, I am more focused on what it feels like when the water pours over me. However, it feels like the one place in my life when I can just be and let the water wash everything on me and in me that does not belong in or on me off. Then it goes down the drain. It is s apace where I can tell the creator how I am really feeling and my tears are washed away with the drops of water coming from the faucet. And they all go down the drain. They disappear – the frustration, the tired, the hurts, the fears, whatever it I surrendered to the Creator today it is now down the drain. Out of sight, not able to recover even if I wanted to it is gone. And if I feel it again – it is different – not the same, because that went down the drain. It has been washed away, released, and surrendered to the universe.
The shower is a place of peace. It is a place that washes stuff off and out of me, but it also is a place of peace. There is a peace that I love about the water. I just get to be. I am at my most vulnerable and yet I feel the safest. It is the one space where others respect your boundaries.
I feel the same way when I am washing dishes, but then I am reminded to wear gloves or put lotion on when I am done. I love washing dishes – something cleansing about washing off the debris of the day and even If I know they are going into the dishwasher, I know that my work with them is important. I was part of the process of preparing them for something greater then I could imagine.
As I sit here and pour water down my throat, I am reminded of how life-giving water is. I need it to stay alive. It quenches my thirst on hot days. Whether hot or cold, it refreshes me. The heat from a cup of hot water with a tea bag in it can warm my hands and make me feel loved on a day when I am feeling cold and sniffly. Water, whether it is pumped up as crystal light describes it or froze or hot can not only cleanse the outside of me, but the inside of me. I need it to survive. I need it to cleanse me of that which does not need to be in my body. To flush it out. I need it to keep me healthy and balanced. I remember my doctors saying that to keep my skin moist this winter, drink more water. Water is a fluid of life. It is a fluid of healing. It is a fluid of healing and restoration and peace. Inside or out, it just is a gift of life, a gift of love.
May I always remember that with each sip I take, I am drinking in the wisdom and healing balm of the Creator. Today, I gave thanks for thirst and for the living water, which quenches my thirst.