“As I Went Down by the River to Pray”

Our reflection garden.

I find myself listening to this song by Alison Krauss (from O Brother, Where Art Thou?) quite a bit recently. I’ve been reflecting on a lot lately and today was no exception. Following our afternoon tea I took a walk out to the ‘reflection garden’ out on the edge of the LJS property. It is this little area with three benches forming a semicircle and surrounded by pink, red, and white flowers and a ‘fence’ of prickly pears. It gave me a chance to think and find my center. In the process I came to a few seemingly simple realizations…
- There are some things in life that we cannot change and others that we can. Sometimes the changes take a lot of work and other changes require minimal effort. But the things that we cannot change are just that – we have to find a way to live with them and work around them.
- Dreams are important and working towards them could easily see them fulfilled. But if something changes or doesn’t work out on the way, it isn’t the end of the world (or the end of a dream).
- Life is not always black and white, like we want to believe. There are loopholes, exceptions to the rules, and grey areas. You can’t compartmentalize life.
- There are people in your life that will hurt you when you least expect it, people who will cause you only stress, people who will abandon you, and people who will love and care for you unconditionally.
- Unfortunately, the world isn’t always fair. You might lose people you love. You may see or experience injustice or oppression. You could lose your job or have money stolen.
But what being here (and seeing how people live and react to life) has taught me so far is that you have to go with the flow. You just need to ride the rollercoaster of life. Yeah, it will have its ups and downs, but enjoy the ride - after all, we never know how short or long it may be. Things here are so different than at home that it makes these seemingly simple realizations stick out. Here death is a part of life and fairness and reparations for injustices are negligible, the importance is placed on living a full life. People don’t seem to get caught up in the little details – they see the big picture. They recognize what is important to focus on and what is not (and that is different for each person). So where do you stand in looking at life? Are you up front examining and stressing over the tiny brushstrokes? Or do you stand back and take it all in, appreciating the work as a whole?
Peace.