The Wonder of Water ~ The Glory of Light

“I read somewhere that a thing that does not exist in relation to anything else cannot itself be said to exist.” ~ Marilynn Robinson: Gilead

I suppose I am a reflective person by nature. I spend a lot of time thinking. If too many people were like me, not much would get done in the practical sense of the word. I guess we need more people getting things done than people thinking, and the doers and accomplishers certainly seem to be more valued in today’s society than people who think about things ~ the often overlooked, but truly fundamental things we all take for granted. The Wonder of Water and The Glory of Light. And the power of spoken words. Stuff like that.

It goes without saying that everyone knows that words are important.  But when they are spoken, they hold an innate power. They cannot be retrieved. Once uttered, they cannot be un-uttered. They have the power to wound and destroy ~ or to heal and create.

We really know very little about the creation of all that is. Some people believe science explains it all and others think God made everything. Personally, I don’t see those two views as mutually exclusive. And I really see no reason to argue about it. If the Creator is God, or the idea of God, I suppose He made up science as well…I can’t imagine science making God up. Assuming it was God who created the heavens and the earth and everything else that exists, the only recorded account we have of that story is in the Bible. My point here is not about making any kind of case for either or any view; I have very little interest in apologetics. In fact, I find it humorous that we use that word to try to prove the existence of God ~ as if we have to apologize for Him.

In the book of Genesis, it states that God spoke everything into existence. He didn’t just think it. He used words, spoken aloud. That concept has fascinated me for a long time. It really gives a person pause over what they allow to come flying out of their mouth at other people…

“I read somewhere that a thing that does not exist in relation to anything else, cannot itself be said to exist.”

I really believe that to be true. Everything that exists is connected to something or someone outside of itself. Therefore, we all profoundly affect each other; we are, in a sense, truly brothers and sisters within a family called the human race. Hopefully, someday we will actually believe that and live together filled with grace, love and light.

Recently, as I have been thinking about creation, two of the obvious but often overlooked fundamentals I have been sinking my mind’s teeth into are water and light. It is my impression, drawn from the Biblical account of creation, that God first created light. He spoke light into existence simply by saying the words, “Let there be light.” (Genesis 1:3). Next, He creates, with His words, water. He distinguishes water as separate from the sky and the dry land (Genesis 1:6-10).

For me, water is a stunningly beautiful wonder. It is an entire world unto itself. It has music within ~ such as the laughter of a mountain brook or the crash of power heard in every wave as it collides with the edges of the earth.

The gentle kiss of raindrops. The soft susurrous of snowflakes as they float to the ground and muffle the brash noise of busyness into a dream-like hush to be cherished ~ if only for one fragile day. The twinkling clink of ice cubes against a glass.

Water contains an entire pallet of color. Jade in unseen mountain lakes. Silty earth tones in a swollen stream after a storm. That unmistakable opaque turquoise of glacial melt. Endless reflections of fierce, fiery sunsets.

~ and the purest of clear.

I love the touch of water and its different tastes and smells. The fresh mineral flavor in well water and little streams we dipped our tin cups into while backpacking years ago. That was always the best tasting water imaginable. And the soft saltiness of tears compared to the harsh, parching saltwater of the sea. It’s true- the sea can be cruel, yet somehow the smell of a Northwest rocky beach has always been as irresistible to me as The Sirens in the old myths to their hapless victims of passing sailors.

I love the way water defies confinement to one particular form – it can be a ship crushing iceberg, a game as children dance through a sprinkler on a hot midsummer day, or the universal joy of swimming- immersed in a state of weightless bliss.

Water is cleansing, life-giving and sustaining. It is mysteriously symbolic – the promise within a rainbow and the new life of a baptism.

Water is indeed a Wonder. But Light – Light is a Glory.

The brightest imaginable light always comes to my mind when I think about God. Light has the power to instantly and completely dispel all darkness. And it lives within itself ~ that wafer of a lingering moon sometimes visible in the morning, or how beautiful the flame of a candle looks as the morning sunlight streams through white lace curtains hanging in the eastern windows of your kitchen. The shimmer of warmth on a child’s blonde hair…that certain color of blonde you know at the time you see it just how fleeting it is. By the time that same child is 10, his hair will no longer be blonde. But at this moment, there are rainbows of color in every strand – those same rainbows you can see in the momentary moment of morning dew on flower petals and in the perfect translucent of the same child’s cheek.

~Light within Light. Water within Water. Love within Love. Two halves of a whole~

But perhaps the most breathtaking miracle of all could be Light and Water, side by side, and within each other. Nothing is really ordinary. And in most beautiful things, it is light and water that make them beautiful. I think that is the very reason I wanted to be a watercolor artist in the first place. Watercolors combine light and water. I love the drama of light against the dark and the never-ending nuances of color and reflections of color that transform something as ordinary as a cabbage

or a tomato into one of the most extraordinary things I’ve ever seen…

Beauty is all around us ~ all the time, just gently waiting to take our breath away. It’s a constant outpouring of Grace and Love and just seeing it ~ just savoring it ~ can be an act of worship.

”If you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for a moment.”  ~Georgia O’Keefe                                                                           

               …a moment of sheer love, joy, peace and complete contentment.

Maybe I should go watch television now so I can stop thinking…