La Vita e Bella

Time, a River Runs through it…

From Stafford, 2005: 85-87

Time is like a river. It flows along like water, from the future to the present and into the past. But there is a bend in the river. We know where the water is coming, but we can’t see it or know very much about it. All we know that it is coming.

The present is now – the days we live today. This is God’s gift to us. It is meant to be enjoyed and lived to the fullest. The present will flow by us, of course, and become the past. That is the way of a river, and that is the way of time.

Some people cannot wait for the future to arrive. They crane their necks to see around the bend in the river. They want to know it so badly that they have no respect for the river itself. They thrash their way out into the present in order to see more around the bend.

To them, it seems that the present is only a vantage point to better see around the bend to the future. They miss so much of the joy of today all around them. They miss much of the present time because all they care about is the unknowable, the future. Because they strain to see around the bend in the river, the present nearly knocks them down as it swirls around their knees. It slips behind them and keeps flowing. It becomes the past without their even noticing. The past, for them, is forgotten. The memories fade, and they make the same mistakes all over again.

Never disrespect the river by crashing into its powerful flow. Sit quietly and respectfully on the banks of the river and watch. The future comes when it is ready. It will arrive in its own time and in its own way. Soon it will be in front of us. The present is all we can fully know and experience, so we must. We must love each other. We must smell the hibiscus flowers. We must hear the singing of the weaverbirds and the grunts of the lions. We must taste with joy the honey and the peanut sauce on the rice. We must laugh and cry and live.

Respect the river! We cannot see around the bend into the future, but that is all right. We know it is coming, and although we don’t know all about it, God does. We can trust him with the future. God will take care of it.

All we can see and feel is the present. All we can remember and honor is the past. It is enough, my children.

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