We all know the imagery of one little different coloured fish swimming the opposite way to all the same coloured fish. Often ‘going with the flow’ can be depicted as a negative thing and we are encouraged to ‘swim upstream.’ It’s tough realising we might be going in a direction we didn’t want to go and even tougher to do a one eighty against a torrent of opposing beliefs, mindsets and cultural norms.
In this age of speed, productivity, addiction and anxiety, it’s important to recognise which way we want the river of our life to run.
I have noticed the sweetest situation: We are never alone in life.
God has promised never to leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31 v 8), and if we are open to finding them, there are whole schools of fish heading the same way as us. Isolation is exhausting. Swimming alongside people we admire and trust and identify with is not only easier, it’s energizing! A momentum is generated and we find that even if we are tired or weak, we get pulled along by this sheer, kind force.
St Augustine wrote, “Whenever you go out, walk together, and when you reach your destination, stay together.”
It’s simple. Some advice crosses the boundaries of the ages. Just choose wisely who you are walking together with.
When we are in a crowd, I tell my children and their buddies to “Stay together.” It’s safer that way. More wisdom, greater perspective, much more fun, accountability, less chance of getting lost or taken advantage of. There’s more power in a group – the muscle type and the heart and brain type.
I think if we are honest, we will agree that it’s good to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. Sometimes we can’t find what we are looking for close by and so we join in with online communities or drive long distances to participate. These are welcome and necessary lifeline opportunities.
My challenge to us all is to either join up with or invite others to join in with the good thing you are already on to. There are people in your neighbourhood who you don’t even know but need to! Trust me, just this week an unknown neighbour of mine drove right into my yard to discuss the tree in the corner, the smoke drifting over the wall and, more importantly, community. At first my guards were up, I even shut a little gate between myself and her. Forty five minutes later, I waved goodbye to another ally, if not, a new friend.
It’s a beautiful thing when the person who taught you to make yoghurt messages to ask for a tablespoon of the batch you just made because one of her family members ate the last of theirs. It’s beautiful because she lives just moments from you and when the yoghurt gets exchanged a meaningful driveway conversation gets thrown in for good measure. Both parties experience a rise in their sense of well being as a result. Practical exchanges often come with significant unseen benefits.
Bonds that cross oceans and continents are special and rare, but the bonds between people who live near to one another are tremendous. These connections mean that someone pops round with cake when you are having a bad day. An actual person holds your cranky baby whilst you hang the washing. Finding high heels to borrow last minute dot com is very likely. Going for a walk together or helping with one another’s children is just life.
The people who live near by literally pull you along with them into all kinds of good things like bread making and book reading, mending water pipes and further studies. The people who live just down the road are not to be overlooked. It is God who puts us in certain parts of this earth during particular times (Acts 17 v 26). He has thought about who needs to be where for the greater good.
If we fail to find ‘our people’ we may well find ourselves swept away by currents that we just don’t have the energy to swim against.
Love and prayers that you will find a flow to go with if you haven’t already.
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