The Water Song~ ~ ~
Come, oh come! let us away--
Lower, lower every day,
Oh, what joy it is to race
Down to find the lowest place.
This the dearest law we know--
'It is happy to go low.'
Sweetest urge and sweetest will,
'Let us go down lower still.'
Hear the summons night and day,
Calling us to come away.
From the heights we leap and flow
To the valleys down below.
Always answering to the call,
To the lowest place of all.
Sweetest urge and sweetest pain,
To go low and rise again.
Hannah Hurnard ~ Hinds' Feet On High Places
'Much Afraid,' said the Shepherd's voice in her ear, 'what do you think of this fall of great waters in their abandonment of self-giving?'
She trembled a little as she answered. 'I think they are beautiful and terrible beyond anything which I ever saw before.'
'Why terrible?' He asked.
'It is the leap which they have to make, the awful height from which they must cast themselves down to the depths beneath, there to be broken on the rocks. I can hardly bear to watch it.'
'Look closer,' He said again. 'Let your eye follow just one part of the water from the moment when it leaps over the edge until it reaches the bottom.'
Much-Afraid did so, and then almost gasped with wonder. Once over the edge, the waters were liked winged things, alive with joy, so utterly abandoned to the ecstasy of giving themselves that she could almost have supposed that she was looking at a host of angels floating down on rainbow wings, singing with rapture as they went.
She gazed and gazed, then said, 'It looks as though they think it is the loveliest movement in all the world, as though to cast oneself down is to abandon oneself to ecstasy and joy indescribable.'
'Yes,' answered the Shepherd in a voice vibrant with joy and thanksgiving. 'I am glad that you have noticed that, Much-Afraid. These are the Falls of Love, flowing from the High Places in the Kingdom above. You will meet them again. Tell Me, does the joy of the waters seem to end when they break on the rocks below?"
Again Much-Afraid looked where He pointed, and noticed that the lower the water fell, the lighter it seemed to grow, as though it really were lighting down on wings. On reaching the rocks below, all the waters flowed together in a glorious host, forming an exuberant, rushing torrent which swirled triumphantly around and over the rocks. Laughing and shouting at the top of their voices, they hurried still lower and lower, down through the meadows to the next precipice and the next glorious crisis of their self-giving. From there they would again cast themselves down to the valleys far below. Far from suffering from the rocks, it seemed as though every obstacle in the bed of the torrent was looked upon as another object to be overcome and another lovely opportunity to find a way over or around it. Everywhere was the sound of water, laughing, exulting, shouting in jubilation.
'At first sight perhaps the leap does look terrible,' said the Shepherd, 'but as you can see, the water itself finds no terror in it, no moment of hesitation or shrinking, only joy unspeakable, and full of glory, because it is the movement natural to it. Self-giving is its life. It has only one desire, to go down and down and give itself with no reserve or holding back of any kind. You can see that as it obeys that glorious urge the obstacles which look so terrifying are perfectly harmless, and indeed only add to the joy and glory of the movement.'
'Why terrible?' He asked.
'It is the leap which they have to make, the awful height from which they must cast themselves down to the depths beneath, there to be broken on the rocks. I can hardly bear to watch it.'
'Look closer,' He said again. 'Let your eye follow just one part of the water from the moment when it leaps over the edge until it reaches the bottom.'
Much-Afraid did so, and then almost gasped with wonder. Once over the edge, the waters were liked winged things, alive with joy, so utterly abandoned to the ecstasy of giving themselves that she could almost have supposed that she was looking at a host of angels floating down on rainbow wings, singing with rapture as they went.
She gazed and gazed, then said, 'It looks as though they think it is the loveliest movement in all the world, as though to cast oneself down is to abandon oneself to ecstasy and joy indescribable.'
'Yes,' answered the Shepherd in a voice vibrant with joy and thanksgiving. 'I am glad that you have noticed that, Much-Afraid. These are the Falls of Love, flowing from the High Places in the Kingdom above. You will meet them again. Tell Me, does the joy of the waters seem to end when they break on the rocks below?"
Again Much-Afraid looked where He pointed, and noticed that the lower the water fell, the lighter it seemed to grow, as though it really were lighting down on wings. On reaching the rocks below, all the waters flowed together in a glorious host, forming an exuberant, rushing torrent which swirled triumphantly around and over the rocks. Laughing and shouting at the top of their voices, they hurried still lower and lower, down through the meadows to the next precipice and the next glorious crisis of their self-giving. From there they would again cast themselves down to the valleys far below. Far from suffering from the rocks, it seemed as though every obstacle in the bed of the torrent was looked upon as another object to be overcome and another lovely opportunity to find a way over or around it. Everywhere was the sound of water, laughing, exulting, shouting in jubilation.
'At first sight perhaps the leap does look terrible,' said the Shepherd, 'but as you can see, the water itself finds no terror in it, no moment of hesitation or shrinking, only joy unspeakable, and full of glory, because it is the movement natural to it. Self-giving is its life. It has only one desire, to go down and down and give itself with no reserve or holding back of any kind. You can see that as it obeys that glorious urge the obstacles which look so terrifying are perfectly harmless, and indeed only add to the joy and glory of the movement.'
being a part of the great waterfall each drop being a necessary part
of a greater whole that together
form a healing flow
Yes!
Yes!
