Stream of Life
The stream of life is out in the country. You can only get to it by driving dirt roads. Then you have to walk a beaten path through pin oaks, pines, and hickories that will roll an ankle if you’re not careful. Just when you’ve given up, the trees open and a sandy-bottomed creek sparkles in the sun. We enter the water, startled by its coolness. The stream closes around us, and we are underway.
Sometimes we bob along, watching the sun filter through the oaks passing on shore. Sometimes we swim, eager, engaged, certain of our destination. Other times, we’re barely able to come up for air, the rapids are so brutal. But we’re always in the stream.
I’ve entered a new current. One that has me bobbing, swimming, and floundering all at once. But I’m in the stream of life, glad to be there. Read about the newness in this report for the Mississippi Episcopalian. Scroll down to page 5. Look for my face.
I hope you enjoy it!
becoming beloved community, Beloved Community, Bishop Curry, Day of Dialogue, Mississippi Episcopal Diocese, Mississippi Episcopalians and racism, Racial Healing
Joe Hawes
Lovely metaphor
Ellen Morris Prewitt
Thank you!
Donna Weidner
I’ll second Joe’s comment. Ever-changing…
Be well, Ellen
Ellen Morris Prewitt
Oh, yes. And somehow the metaphor helps me when times get rough because, though I’m struggling, I’m still in the stream. Best to you as well, Donna.
Joanne Corey
Thank you for sharing your article and thank you for your deep work on anti-racism.
As someone who always tries to practice deep listening, I was trying to imagine the 90-second rounds of answering a question and listening to a partner’s response. It’s likely I could handle the listening, but have difficulty imagining handling the talking. I need time to collect my thoughts before speaking, so 90 seconds to articulate something meaningful seems impossibly short. Have you ever noticed this being an issue with your conversation partners?
Ellen Morris Prewitt
People react so differently to this exercise, Joanne. For some, I get the feeling the lack of time to prepare makes them talk about the first thing that comes to mind which, the more they talk, the more they realize there’s a reason it popped up. For some, I sense they simply don’t talk about what this truth of their lives but the permission of the structure and–there it is. I think folks are surprised by how personal they’re willing to get, and often how much the story they’re telling still has the power to distress them. I did sense some hesitation for folks to discuss what they haven’t thought through, but they stumbled forward. I had one older man repeat the same two words about six times. That was all he said. ❤️ And thank you so much for clicking through and reading!