A Track to the Water's Edge - July 27
Today’s Reflection: AM Psalm 56, 57, [58]; PM Psalm 64, 65; Joshua 24:16-33; Rom. 16:1-16; Matt. 27:24-31
I am reminded today of a story found in the works of a South African woman, written in 1890 called “Dreams” by Olive Schreiner. Her work was first translated and introduced to the United States by Howard Thurman, a spiritual leader to Martin Luther King, Jr. The story is an incredibly powerful allegory about the fight for freedom, one that inspired King.
In this story, a woman wakes from her sleep and is trying to make her way to freedom. She encounters a wise old man. She goes up to the water’s edge but there is no bridge. She asks the old man: “How do I get across? There is no bridge”. He says: “You must take off your clothes. They are dragged down by them who go into the water so clothed”. She takes off her clothes. She has a baby. He says: “Put that baby down, when you are in the water, you will forget to fight, you will only think of him.” The baby draws blood.
She puts the baby down. The man says, “Go.”
She reaches the water and the woman yells, “For what do I go to this far land which no one has ever reached? Oh, I am alone! I am utterly alone!” The man says, “Be quiet, listen. What do you hear?” She answers: “I hear the sound of thousands and thousands and thousands of footsteps of those who came here before me.” He says, “How does a locust get across the stream? Some come down and jump into the water, and their bodies get washed away. Then some sink and the others pile up on top of them and their bodies build a bridge so the others can cross.” She said, “Who is going across this bridge?” His reply: “All of humanity.” “And what about those who are washed away? What do they get out of it?” she asks. “They beat a track to the water’s edge.”
The story strikes a chord with me in the sacrificial way we are called to live and model our lives. The fight for beloved community where all people are restored to the fullness of life through God’s justice has been a life long journey where many have yet to see the fruits of their labors, and yet they still beat a track to the water’s edge.
This old story rang a chord again in today’s reading from Romans’s as we hear Paul name Phoebe, Prisca, Aquila, Epanetus, Mary, Andronicus, Ampliatus, Urbanas, Apelles, Aristobulus, Herodion, and that’s just getting started. He is naming people who have a profound impact on the early church. With the exception of Phoebe (and likely only because her name was employed in the Scriptural justification for the ordination of women), these are names that we do not know. I have read this passage many times in my life, and still only remembered Phoebe. It hit me in reading that list of names, that there must be millions of people who have gone before who have helped share the vision for Beloved Community, and shaped the faith that inspires so many, this radical way of Love, and these people are names that I do not know.
I keep foolishly believing that if I work hard enough, or can inspire enough people, God’s kingdom, God’s radical love, and the way of true freedom for all people will have fully arrived. And I forget, that for two thousand years, people have been beating a track to the water’s edge. Yep… I have an ego to work on.
So what about us? What is our purpose in this journey with God. Maybe it is just to beat a track to the water’s edge. And maybe knowing the story that others have been doing just the same, can inspire us, and help us see that we are a part of something much larger, something for the rest of humanity to cross.
- John+
Questions for Self-Reflection
Where in your life do you feel like you are making no progress? Why then do you try? Is it worth it?
Daily Challenge
Spend some time today on Google or Wikipedia trying to learn the name of one person who you did not know before that has positively affected the life of other people.