I’m fascinated by natural bodies of water. I was born and raised in a land-locked State and have no formal training in the physical sciences. So the principles that allow two hydrogen and one oxygen molecule to form an inseparable partnership as a drop of water which gathers together with billions of friends to form a tranquil lake, torrential river, majestic ocean, or even the league lying leisurely inside the glass on my desk right now, is completely fascinating. Bodies of water are affected by gravity, velocity, atmospheric conditions, celestial bodies, and plastic containers. We think we understand it and can even control it in some cases.
Money is like water. It just sits there in stacks small and large, whether in physical currency or electronic format, doing absolutely nothing by itself, until a force greater than the currency employs it for something else. Maybe it buys food, or a car. It can be shared freely or lent on specified terms. It will heat your home and provide entertainment. For much of our lives, we exchange our time and talents for it. It’s just a thing, and one might argue that it’s just a concept–after all, your savings account isn’t made of molecules. And still, when you get pools of funds together, outside forces acting on those groupings seem to give the collection a life of its own. So much so that simpletons like me anthropomorphize the assemblage and comment on its behavior: “Apple had a bad day”, “the markets are really on a tear this morning”, “interest rates really like the recent news out of the Middle-East”.
It’s been said that you can’t hold back the tides, and that time and tide wait for no man. The best we can do is to watch the ebbs and flows of systems greater than ourselves, enjoy the beauty, prepare for the storms, and ride the waves. There is only One Person I know who had control over the elements enough that he walked on the water, and turned a few pitchers of it into wine. In and of itself those are miraculous feats. If that’s all that happened it would still be a compelling read two millennia later. But there is oh so much more to the story than that. This week I pay particular honor, respect, awe, and adoration to He who not only conquered gravity, He conquered grief, injustice, error, hate, and even death. He has brought me solace and peace, understanding and joy. I may not comprehend what he did any more than I understand the chemical makeup of something as simple as water. But I am a beneficiary of having both in my life. However you choose to celebrate this weekend, I wish you a wonderful Easter Sunday.
