The River

I sat by the river and as it rushed past in a mesmerizing, torrent I heard it say..."Come to me all you who are weary...Learn of me and you will find rest for your soul".
And so I did, I moved my home to the water's edge.  I sat on her sloping banks and dipped my toes in her rippling waters.  The water was cold, but I skipped flat rocks and breathed in her beauty.  I found such peace there.  I enjoyed my home on the banks where grace ran free, and the water never ended.

Then one day the river spoke to me again.  It reminded me that there was more, that on the edge I could see its power, but I didn't KNOW the river.  For that I had to get in, to surrender myself to the flow to understand the currents of grace and love to know its truth. 

For a time I sat on the bank in fear for I was aware of what it meant to go where there was no solid ground beneath my feet.  As I sat there I smelled the river's wafting fragrance and knew it would take me deeper.  That in the presence of this river of grace I would find rest.  I heard its symphony of water over rocks, the lilting rush, such grace poured out.

I wade out till the water laps at my chest with an insistent tug... and I know in these waters I will learn how love and grace combine to form truth.  At times my feet leave the sandy bottom and it is clear that I will not control this wide river.  I acquiesce to its flow as it strips away who I was and what I thought I knew.

I find myself in the river of God.  I join the others both present and past who were willing to let it all be washed away... for the hope of the promise.  The promise of His presence, as grace flows like a river.