Row Row Row

your boat, gently down the stream…merrily….Life is but a dream…

I’ve been meditating and tossing these words back and forth all day today…

It seems that the biggest secret to living life may be in these simple words….hidden in plain sight.

I can remember riding in the car as a kid singing this song with my family over and over…trying to do it in round…or to the rhythm of the windshield wipers.

As I’ve examined this song..i realize, were i able to live each of these words and only these words…how much better life would be.

Row row row your boat….there’s an action demanded…you must row to finish the song.   it’s the first commandment of the lyric…and it’s stated 3 times… 3 times is a significant number to many of us…do a search on 333 and see what starts popping up in your dreams.   then the words “your boat”…no one can row your boat but yourself.    And one of the big secrets to life is that YOU make decisions about your boat.

After examining who’s at the oar of the boat and making sure the handles and hands match in ownership…. one has to examine the condition of the boat they are in…  are there holes in the boat from choosing or wandering into rocky streams.?..maybe another pushed you into the damage, maybe you were born in the rapids…how does the boat look today?   Hopefully it looks well used.    A boat that’s spent it’s life out of the water is a true loss to the gift of enjoying the stream of life….

What is the design of the boat?…one may discover extra weight in the boat making it labor some…or even the boat itself could be streamlined to make it easier to row by reshaping the head.

hear the invitation..the calling…to start imagining what you could do to make it lighter and easier so you don’t have to row so hard.    Because rowing is a life-long process…it might as well be enjoyable.

“Gently down the stream”….  Gently pops out to me here.   I’ve spent many years of my life forcing my boat to go as fast as possible….but this just lead me into other arms of the stream where damage and debris waited…it saved me no time and gained nothing.   We are meant to sail gently down the stream.    There’s a feeling of peace that can wash over the effort of living if one lets the stream lead and gently row.    Instead of concerning ourselves with rocks and cliff jumping like wild salmon headed home…remember, home is not where we began.   There’s no need to try and go back to the past.   And the future is waiting

… might as well enjoy rowing.

Merrily-  sometimes it’s a choice to be joyful.    I’ve recently been challenged myself to count things part of life’s joy  that were out of my control on different streams and rivers that don’t fit my boat…that’s another’s journey.    It is wonderful when one boater can row with you for awhile, a gift from the Creator…but in the end, all float in solitarily and have but days, weeks, or years that intersect with others.   no one rides the exact same stream through life as any other.   It’s useless to pursue so.

Life is but a dream….as I mentioned in my last post..we are collectively dreaming a dream.   Some choose a nightmare out of boredom or miseducation.    I’m choosing a dream I enjoy from today forward.    If we held all that is around and through us as only part of a dream…knowing the stream eventually moves us through everything, even the dangers and unpleasant parts…there’s a way to relax and let the water do the hard labor.   There’s no reason to be troubled in your heart.

So if you find that you’ve wondered off course and are no longer in the current…turn around and head back to the place you last felt peace…..if you find that your boat needs repair, the universe provides endless healing and gifts…..if the worse should happen, and you fall out of your boat and lose it completely….know that all that is seen is temporal….and when you hit the water, you are reborn into the eternal…you awaken…where Life as we know it feels like a dream…and LIFE is more than we can possibly imagine.   All is well.     All is calm.    Gently row the current of the Great Creator sisters and brothers.

Blessings