ITS WONDERFUL WAY

“Paul and his mother, ripple and great wave, had flowed into her life and ebbed out of it forever.”
     -- E. M. Forster, Howards End

           

     Today, like all days, I will be part of a ceaselessly flowing “ripple and great wave”, and the wonder is that it won’t take any work on my part to be part of it.  Each moment will be the making of the flowing motion of life – the coming and going, the giving and taking that fashions the immeasurable surprises of our lives. Even if I’m simply steering my bike down sunny morning roads, or just sitting in my classroom with my students, the surge of the tides and currents of the universe will be working its wonders through all things. If I lift my hand, the stream of life will shift its course in a small but complete way. If I smile at someone, a slight and new ripple will roll across the cosmos. It’s always strange to realize that I really don’t have to do anything to be a seamless part of all this mighty movement.  I don’t have to work or toil or try or organize or manipulate or make things happen. It’s already happening, always. All I have to do is don’t get in its wonderful way.