River/Divine Flow
Faith does not need to push the river because faith is able to trust that there is a river, the river is flowing, and we are in it. Richard Rohr. Wade into the river of God's love and be drawn deeper.
Gregg’s Reflection
I’ve always been drawn to rivers. The Chattahoochee flows right through Atlanta, and a rite of passage was the Great Atlanta Raft Race. Genie and I bought a canoe early on and paddled many lakes and rivers. I broke a rib floating the Class 4 Whitewater section of the Ocoee River. We floated the Chatooga River of Deliverance fame, the Nantahala and Hiawassee in Tennessee.
After exhausting rivers near our home, we floated the Colorado through the Grand Canyon, the Green River to its confluence with the Colorado Cataract Canyon through Canyonlands, the Middle Fork of the Salmon through the River of No Return Wilderness. Every year, we float and fish the Encampment, the Bighorn and upper Green River in Wyoming. Fished the Soca River in Slovenia, Rio Manso in Argentine Patagonia, the Kenai, Kulik and Kanektok Rivers in Alaska.
Genie and I don’t have the stamina to climb 14ers anymore. Today we explore the great river canyons of the West in a raft or drift boat.
The wilderness has always spoken to us. I love to meditate staring at a moving river or the waves on a lake or beach. That and staring at a campfire are wonderful ways to reverently be in the moment. Read what the ancient and modern mystics say about flow.
Scripture
The River of God is flowing today no one can stop it, and no one can contain it. It is a deep River of divine intimacy,a powerful River of holy living, a dancing River of jubilation in the Spirit, and a wide River of unconditional love for all peoples. And the promise is that everything the River touches will live! Oh, my friend, may I urge you to step into the flow of this mighty River of God, and then determine never to step out. Let it be for us, as Jesus says, that streams of living water will ever flow out of our innermost being.
From the notes on Ezekiel 2 in the RENOVARE Study Bible.
He leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul.
Psalm 23
How precious is your steadfast love, oh God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.
Psalm 36:7-9
Those who drink the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.
John 3:14
Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’
John 4:10
Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living waters.
John 7:38
Ancient Writings
All streams flowing forth from a clear spring are also clear. So it is with a soul in grace. Planted like a tree in the spring of life, her deeds delight both the human and the divine. If it were not for this spring sustaining the tree, there would be no shade, no sweet fruit.
St. Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle, trans Mirabai Starr, p. 42
God is an underground river that no one can dam up or stop.
Meister Eckhart
Modern Writings
I've got peace like a river,
I've got peace like a river,
I've got peace like a river in my soul.
I've got peace like a river,
I've got peace like a river,
I've got peace like a river in my soul.
African American Spiritual
May what I do flow from me like a river, no forcing and no holding back, the way it is with children.
Rainer Maria Rilke
There is a river that runs through time and the universe, vast and inexplicable, a flow of spirit that is at the heart of all existence, and every molecule of our being is a part of it. And what is God but the whole of that river? … Perhaps the most important truth I’ve learned across the whole of my life is that it’s only when I yield to the river and embrace its journey that I find peace.
William Kent Krueger, Epilogue, This Tender Land
The more united we are to God, in prayer, the more naturally that source flows out from its inner spring, becoming a stream of action in relationship to others. To abide in this spring and let the living waters of Christ flow freely through us, we must be committed to regular contemplative prayer.
Phileena Heuertz, Mindful Silence, p. 43
We are knee deep in a river, searching for water.
Kabir Helminski, Living Presence, p. 25
We are downloading the eternal into the now. There is a tremendous exchange between the realms going on right now.
Cynthia Bourgeault, Living School Faculty Call 11/20
The contemplative life is a prolonged immersion in the rivers of tranquility that flow from God into the whole universe and draw all things back to God. True peace is only found by those who have learned to ride and swim with the strong current of this stream.
Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, p. 266
Your prayer and quiet times give you the strength to cope with the heavy, busy times. You must allow the flow of faith, love, healing, hope, joy and light to pass through you into the world. You must allow the flow of hatred, darkness and sin to flow from the world through you to God. All of this is done by prayer, and by forgiveness of yourself and others.
Aidan Clark, Celtic Daily Prayer, p. 394-395.
The Franciscan philosopher, theologian, and mystic St. Bonaventure (c. 1217–1274) described the Trinity as a “fountain fullness” of overflowing love. Picture three buckets on a moving water wheel. We can see these water wheels in rural areas of Europe. They usually have more than three buckets, but each bucket empties out and swings back, inevitably waiting to be filled again. And it always is! Most of us can’t risk letting go or emptying out. We can't risk letting go because we aren’t sure we will be refilled. But the three Persons of the Trinity empty themselves and pour themselves out into each other. Each knows they can empty themselves because they will forever be refilled. To understand this mystery of love fully, we need to “stand under” the flow and participate in it. It’s infinite outpouring and infinite infilling without end. It can only be experienced as a flow, as a community, as a relationship, as an inherent connection.
Richard Rohr, CAC Morning Devo, 1/12/22
The divine flow either flows both in and out, or it is not flowing at all. The “trap doors” at either end must be kept open in order to both receive and let go, which is the work of all true spirituality.
Richard Rohr, Essential Teachings on Love, p. 39
Consciously, trustfully, lovingly remaining on the vine (John 15:1) which is to be connected to our source, is precisely our access point to deeper spiritual wisdom. Surrendering to our identity in God is the beginning of all wisdom.
Richard Rohr, Spring within, p. 307
Can you feel yourself swimming in the endless stream of the river of life?
Matthew Fox, Christian Mystics, p. 210
When I can stand under the waterfall of infinite mercy and know that I am loved precisely in my unworthiness, then I can pass along mercy to you.
Richard Rohr, The Divine Dance, Page 135. Beautiful.
Faith does not need to push the river because faith is able to trust that there is a river, the river is flowing, and we are in it.
Richard Rohr CAC Morning Devo, 4/4/16
The solid stream of God’s presence moves deeper than the small waves of our minds and hearts. Easter brings the awareness that God is present even when his presence is not directly noticed.
Henri Nouwen Society Daily Devo, 4/4/21
O Lord, sea of love and goodness, let me not fear too much the storms and winds of my daily life, and let me know there is ebb and flow but the sea remains the sea.
Henri Nouwen, Nouwen Society Daily Devo, 8/31/20
In the world of grace and freedom, for a channel to be opened, it must flow forward, through, and toward something else—or the channel becomes blocked. Our attitudes toward earning, giving, losing, and receiving money are about as good a measure for our giving and receiving of love as anything I know. The opposite is also true. Stingy with love, stingy with money. Generous with love, generous with money. Circumspect with love, circumspect with money. In a general sense, we are either flow people or dam (!) people.
Richard Rohr, “Karma,” The Mendicant 11, no. 2, p. 1.
The water that pours from the fountain in one moment is not the same water that pours from it in the next.
Almaas, Facets of Unity, p. 170
Prayer is sitting in silence until it silences us, choosing gratitude until we are grateful, and praising God until we ourselves are an act of praise. Why wait for heaven when you can enjoy the divine flow in every minute, in everyone?
Richard Rohr, Universal Christ
Patience is the very shape of love. The ride is the destination, and the goal is never clearly in sight. To stay on the ride, to trust the trajectory, to know it is moving, and moving somewhere always better, is just about the best way to describe religious faith.
Richard Rohr
We can rest in the divine flow and trust that it will, as it always has, carry us within it.
Kathleen Singh, The Grace in Aging
Once you get in contact with the flow and the ultimate source within you, then your stability comes from the only stable source, God. We stop depending on something outside of us to fill our inner needs. We reverse the flow and draw what we need from inside, from the absolute union between God and our soul. We let God’s energy, God’s Spirit, flow out from us to others, and then we know on a cellular level that God dwells within us.
Richard Rohr, Spring Within, p. 203
Christianity is a vast sea of wisdom, and yet most of us are content only to skim the surface.
Rabbi Rami Shapire, Christian Mystics, p. 3
For Jesus, prayer seems to be a matter of waiting in love. Returning to love. Trusting that love is the deepest stream of reality. That’s why prayer isn’t primarily words; it’s primarily an attitude, a stance, a modus operandi. That’s why Paul could say, “Pray always.” “Pray unceasingly.” We can pray unceasingly, however, if we find the stream and know how to wade in its waters. The stream will flow through us, and all we have to do is keep choosing to stay there.
Richard Rohr, CAC Morning Devo, 2/13/22
The full life of faith becomes a life of deep joy and rest. You don’t have to worry about the next moment or about tomorrow. You can trust that you are being guided; in fact, almost everything is seen as guidance. Your ability to trust that there is guidance available allows it to become guidance! You realize God is letting this happen to you now to teach you something, to show you something, or to love you in a new way. Then you start allowing the divine flow. The Spirit In you allows you to trust that there’s a reason for everything.
Richard Rohr, A Spring Within, p. 334.
As followers of Jesus, we want to pour out our lives for others. This is a good and beautiful thing. However, if we are not continually replenished by ‘living water,’ we will end up drained, dry, and exhausted.
Introduction to The Reservoir Spiritual Formation Devotional p.1