26th April - Day 41 - An endless stream ... (of puns?)

Just because I didn’t give you more deer puns last week, doesn’t mean you can relax. I was just wetting for a new opportunity.

So, before I pondtificate about the meaning of still waters running deep, dew you want to groan about the puns and then contemplake that things are not always what they stream?

Water, as with my previous comments about circles, is something I think we are all drawn to and the sight, smell and sounds of streams, rivers or seas can immediately take us back to a specific time in our lives. There is a calmness that is created that is difficult to replicate with other landscapes and yet we also know the power and force that water has to cut through the hardest rocks. This time of year, the leaves don’t prevent us seeing the water and the bright mornings create reflections and shadows that often appear unreal.

Still waters run deep is certainly a saying or proverb that goes a long way back in time. It can be traced to Rome in the first century where it can be translated to mean ‘the deepest rivers flow with the least sound’. When we look at our lives and those around us, we know that there is often far more going on under the surface than can be seen on it. Whether that is the games people play by not being upfront with us, the deep thoughts and ideas that like the deep channels in a river are often found beneath a calm surface or the problems, issues and feelings that people decide to hide behind a smiling face.

The past and present lives of the clients at St Wilfrid’s often remind us that still waters run deep. Society often makes judgements about people based on the surface appearance and part of our aim within this community is to look beyond that and accept and understand the turbulence underneath. Chaotic and troubled lives are often hidden and as I cycled to work looking at several rivers and streams that I passed, it reminded me that one of the strengths of the Centre is not just trying to address the turbulence but as important is creating that calm, that acceptance, that sense of ‘just being’ .

Is there a wetter way to start the week?

Balance is the perfect state of still water. Let that be our model. It remains quiet within and is not disturbed on the surface. Confucius