Tuesday, December 1, 2015

The Fountain


In the morning, when my heart hurts from all the pain in the world, I go outside and fill a fountain. I fill a bucket with cold water and then carry it across the yard. Birds are waiting in the trees and behind the prickly pear for the the fountain's trickling cascade, its shallow pools. As I pour out the bucket, I think of friends who are in trouble, who are hurting. Bodies need health care, minds need counseling, spirits need comforting, money is short or nonexistent, staying alive appears the second choice. Lives are crashing and burning all around me. It helps me to start the day by filling the fountain. Quail, owls, hawks, doves, javelina are all waiting for water, sweet, precious water. I am lucky enough to know how to coax it up out of the earth and into this bucket. Sharing it helps the heart to beat another time, and another, on into the rest of the waiting day.

1 comment:

  1. that's beautiful Erec, and a very good practice to have...it sound whether intentional or not, like it is based in Taoism...So, the Taoist approach is that you empty your cup. In the Tao Te Ching it’s said, "In the world of knowledge, every day something more is taken on." We’re reading more books; we’re stuffing more information into our heads. In the way of Tao, every day something is let go of. We’re emptying, emptying, emptying—and the more the empty, the more we’re able to be filled. You fill the bucket with water, and then empty, it so you can refill it again...

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