The Still Waters of Waiting Potential

This day – this very moment, in fact – is a still, deep body of water that stretches out before us. It’s an endless expanse of potential within which a single splash could ripple forever outwards, touching countless lives as it travels.

Yesterday and tomorrow are nothing more than reflections across the surface of this water. They appear real enough and yet they are but an illusion that quickly dissipates when we touch the surface; the reflections of the past and the projections of the future fade away in favor of the ultimate reality of Now.

When we become lost in these reflections, focused on what was and what may be, we leave today’s potential untouched. As we gaze upon the surface, we create no ripple and we alter no lives, not even our own. Upon still, untouched waters, the reflections begin to seem more real, pulling us always deeper into the past and future and away from the real world that’s happening here and now.

A day will come when our bones have become brittle and our muscles have worn thin and we’ll lack the strength to swim. The waters of our potential will begin to dry out, as all thing eventually must. When that day comes, the only thing we will have left is that reflection. When we find that we no longer have the strength to make waves in the waters of today, our joy will live in the memory of all the great dips, plunges, and splashes of yesterday – but if we spend all of our todays gazing at our yesterdays and tomorrows, there will nothing there to reflect upon.

We have to swim while the waters remain deep. We must jump in and splash about while the ripple of our influence remains strong. The time is now to tell someone how much we love them. This is the moment to take a chance and pursue our passions; to make space for the things that really matter and to set aside the time to be sure of what they are. We must stop gazing at the surface, close our eyes, and just jump in before those waters – and the currents they carry – begin to run dry.

Original image by photographer Holly Lay. Photo filter added. Source Link

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