Still water

 

Today I bought some still spring water. It turned out not to be still. I stood up all five bottles on the conveyor belt which gave a sudden jolt as it began to move.  All five bottles fell over and one rolled off the creeping belt. I delayed it's fall with my hand and knocked it deftly onto my foot from whence it rolled eagerly towards the door as I winced from the impact. I had not taken my own bag and was too ashamed to buy one as that may have indicated my lack of commitment to net zero. Having wheeled the trolley to my car I loaded the five bottles into the boot and took them to my house. I doubt the water remained still as we journeyed. When I opened the boot, one of the five bottles rolled out and began to make its way down the street.  Those five bottles were the least still water I have ever had the misfortune to meet.  

My outing reminded me of Psalm 23. "He leads me beside the still waters" The Psalm is famously about the Lord our shepherd leading us through the stillness and through the trauma. Waters are not always still, pastures are not always green, but when the shadows darken our path and the difficulties surround our table, the Lord still leads us, if we let him.