Life is like a span of water I am journeying across. I find myself at the edge contemplating the water at my feet. The water is clear, not too deep. It barely moves – just a few ripples – and the small, round, pebble stones show through. It is peaceful and brings a smile to my face. Like a sunny morning with fresh dew on the grass.

I think I will step in. It is cool; gently flowing over my toes, while the smooth pebbles support my feet. I feel safe and take another step, a little deeper. It is a little cooler and above my ankles now. The water moves slightly faster, but still I can see the crisp, clear bottom.

I glance around and notice long, green, leaves, strung along by the rippling water, along some larger rocks a few feet ahead of me. How hard they struggle to hold on against the flow; their roots deep underground. How long have they been there? How long will they grow? Life is like that sometimes. Where am I rooted?

Curious about the plants, I decide to move further in. Maybe I could sit on those rocks. I bet they are warm from the sun. I take a couple more confident steps, focused on my destination, and stumble as I step on a sharp stone. I cry out as a sharp pain shoots through me and I nearly fall in the water head first. My heart is racing and I am instantly angry at myself for losing focus on where I was stepping. All at once, my serene, joyful, attitude, turned angry.

I cursed the rock that cut my foot and the plants that distracted me. Almost as if I had forgotten the peaceful sunny day that it was. Just like that my mind went to a completely different place. And then I realized and had to laugh out loud; here I was all by myself in this beautiful place cursing a rock and some plants all because I lost my focus. I took a moment to look up and around at the beautiful sky, the sun, the rippling water- and got refocused.

Isn’t that just what we do in life? We lose sight of what is important; the thing that gets us to our goal. Something goes wrong and we blame someone or something else and get angry. Life is a journey step-by-step. Each step is important. We don’t get to skip days or even moments, but it matters what we do with them.

More focused now on where I was stepping, I carefully continued toward the rocks. The water was up to my thighs now and a bit chilly. I hoped it wouldn’t get any deeper as I was not prepared to get completely wet. Just a couple more steps and I would be there. The water was moving a little more quickly, but still slow enough that it wouldn’t wash me away. I felt comfortable where I was. I stopped and listened again to the sounds around me.

From this vantage point the sounds of the moving water were much louder then it was from the waters edge. Such a comforting sound but I didn’t dare close my eyes lest I lose my focus again and get swept away. Now I could hear the birds on both sides of the creek many different calls of birds talking to each other. I couldn’t hear the leaves rustling although I could see that they were moving slightly so there must still be a breeze. The sound was overtaken by that of the water moving. The sun felt nice and I was looking forward to climbing up on those rocks and getting warm.

As I took my last steps to reach the rocks, it got a little deeper so my shorts got wet. I found a place where I could get a hold of the rock and another where I got a foothold and carefully pulled myself up. Now I could feel the breeze on my wet legs. But the warm rocks in the hot sun quickly dried them. What a beautiful place to be. I thought I would just rest a while. Peace, serenity, sounds of birds and rolling waters, with warm sun on my face. I arrived.