THE WAY OF THE RIVER

Wendell Berry, Farmer and writer on the persistence of rivers:

“To a river, as to any natural force, an obstruction is merely an opportunity. For the river’s nature is to flow; it is not just spatial in dimension, but temporal as well. All things must yield to the impulse of the water in time, if not today then tomorrow or in a thousand years. If its way is obstructed then it goes around the obstruction or under it or over it and, flowing past it, wears it away. Men may dam it and say that they have made a lake, but it will still be a river. It will keep its nature and bide its time, like a caged wild animal alert for the slightest opening. In time it will have its way; the dam like the ancient cliffs will be carried away piecemeal in the currents.” (Source: ‘The Unforeseen Wilderness’)

Jesus described the Holy Spirit as a river. The power and purpose of the Spirit is much as Berry describes. It cannot be stopped or controlled. “In time it will have its way.”

(Just a note: I have not forgotten that this is September 11 and I also remember 9-11-2001)

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’
Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” Jesus