Thought Gardens: Rock or River

Our thought gardens can be lush with vivid memories, beautiful affirmations, and running with a river of gratitude for all our blessings. All gardens need maintenance, or they can become run-down, rocky patches full of weeds that need to be eradicated.

All kinds of things can prompt us to open the gates of our thought gardens and wander around: a song, a smell, a conversation. These excursions can refresh us with a loving memory, or they can challenge us to leave something behind and make positive changes for our future.

As an example, we can choose to be a rock or a river.

Recently, a song prompted a visit to my thought garden. Legendary songwriters, like Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, have a gift for translating our deepest emotions into cinematic imagery. Read and listen to the lyrics of “I Am a Rock” from 1966:

A winter’s day
In a deep and dark December
I am alone
Gazing from my window
To the streets below
On a freshly fallen, silent shroud of snow

I am a rock
I am an island

I’ve built walls
A fortress, steep and mighty
That none may penetrate
I have no need of friendship
Friendship causes pain
It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain

I am a rock
I am an island

Don’t talk of love
Well, I’ve heard the word before
It’s sleeping in my memory
I won’t disturb the slumber
Of feelings that have died
If I never loved, I never would have cried

I am a rock
I am an island

I have my books
And my poetry to protect me
I am shielded in my armor
Hiding in my room
Safe within my womb
I touch no one and no one touches me

I am a rock
I am an island

And a rock feels no pain
And an island never cries

A Rock is hard, unchanging, and unmoving, only being eroded by what is perceived as uncontrollable forces.

A River is ever-flowing and may slow down in spots, but it is never stagnant. Rivers generously provide refreshment for weary souls and can go with the flow of life. A river can connect with others that add to its resources. Rivers receive true fulfillment from the heavens, growing in the rain of God’s blessings.

As an introvert, I can easily become rocky. I have to decide to be a river of God’s love and flow with the work He is doing through people.

Do you think of yourself as a rock or a river?

[Jesus said] “For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water shall flow from the inmost being of anyone who believes in me.” John 7:38