You may not have been able to take in all the lessons from water everyone shared at our Water Ceremony a couple of Sundays back. Congregant Cynthia Bearer kindly offered to type up all of the wisdom you shared on those blue strips of paper so that we could continue to contemplate them. Here is what you said water is teaching you:

Gratitude. Water is Persistence. Water teaches to be in the moment and go with the flow. Tradition flows. Life is like water. It is always continuing. It flows on, ever changing.

Water is life. Water is healing, revitalization, and renewal of body, mind, and soul.

Water is wavy. Water is clear. Water is beautiful and makes me happy.

I’m grateful that my Mom & Dad taught me to swim. They are with me every time I swim.

Water was a big part of my childhood – swimming, fishing with my Dad – a way to connect.

Relationships with family can be difficult and take work. Water represents love and commitment.

This water symbolizes change and my journey as a parent. Water teaches humility.

Water is necessary for life. Water quenches my thirst. Slow Water moves big rocks. Water symbolizes super-connection to nature. It teaches the amazing diversity of nature.

I should have brought tears as I am so worried for future generations.  I will work to have hope. Tears of joy, sadness, water from essential rain and surviving bodies of clean water, all enrich life.

Water is Freedom. Beauty. Power. Calm refresh. 

Water connects us. Water is in us. Water reflects what’s inside us & we reflect the natural flow if we’re mindful. This water reminds me to nurture my capacity for wonder.

Water is healing, water is helping me toward health. Water refreshes me and others. 

Water be my teacher. Water carry me. Teach me transformation. 

Water brings relief from pain. It is cooling!

Water can replenish what we’ve lost.

The ocean still restores me, calls me back to myself.

The healing, calming nature of listening to a drip or a wave. Water teaches the gift of taking time from the years of cutting through rocks or the small grains of sand. Our little backyard pond delights the birds, mammals, insects, and others who stop by for a drink and/or a bath.  We are grateful for their presence. To watch for the raindrops falling on the pond… and be silent. Stillness is possible. It feels as if I can rely on the rain to fall, regularly enough to be a constant contributor to my life. Rain water falls on all of us the same. Water in nature is a source of beauty and peace, no matter what is happening elsewhere in the world. 

Water teaches patience and working through failure to success.

Kept the vial from 2 years ago. Today discovered it evaporated, oops! Sometimes our best plans go awry. Water teaches me to flow with Life, with Faith. Water is wise.

It represents peace and allowing myself time and space to heal. It represents full surrender. Renewal. Strength. Support. Ordinary grace (and gratitude). Water holds memory. Water is free.

Responsive waters bear watching.

Water connects us to our home, Earth and each other. We are water bodies. 

Water connects everything. My water connects me to longtime friends. Water connects everything. Water brings all kinds of people together in community. My water connects me to longtime friends. Community is important! It’s a blessing every day. I have learned the depth of community in a new home. Our lives, and the lives of those we love, are fluid like water and like our tears.

Water seemingly comes from one small nothing, but it collects and gathers and a brook to a stream to a river grows and the water becomes a Great Force when it’s gathered together. Water is anywhere and everywhere. It brings all things together and creates something new. Water sustains me when I can not. Water teaches me how to be wild and free… how to tumble and flow and make space. The water taught me to be grateful – grateful for the resources of the earth. This water recycles and is resilient, filled with possibility, clean, open to new creation.

How are you (or how are we) the water in these lessons? How is spirit the water in these teachings? What does it require of you to live these learnings deeply rather than let them be surface level observations?