Still Waters

"He leadeth me beside the still waters...He restoreth my soul."

Psalm 23 is a very familiar passage to most of us who grew up in church.  I can't remember memorizing it, but I know it.  Its lines and stanzas were seemingly always familiar to me.  It's something that happens when you grow up in a church pew, eating Cheerios from a plastic baggie and smelling the mustiness that is unique to old church buildings.

I used to think these were two independent thoughts:

"He leadeth me beside the still waters." (Psalm 23:2b)

"He restoreth my soul." (Psalm 23:3a)

And maybe they are, since they occur in two different verses.  But what if they are related?  Take another little journey with me back to another time of my childhood, outside of the church-pews-and-Cheerios days...

Sun beating down, wind whipping my hair across my face, I giggled as my sister and I held on for dear life and we screamed, "Faster!" to our dad who was driving the boat.  The choppy waters made our ski boat bounce and come down hard across the wakes of passing boats as we drove to our favorite spot to water ski and tube.  Everybody knew the best time to ski was early morning, before the other boaters got out on the water.  In the early morning, if conditions were right, the water would be as smooth as glass...

He leads me by the still waters...

Now as an adult, if I am ever in need of some soul-restoration, I find myself beside a body of water.  As a mother of two young children, I don't get to spend hours walking by the lake, but I do steal a few moments here and there by our pond on our property.  My favorite time is early morning.  The waters are still, the birds are chirping, and the sun sparkles off the water.  No matter what is happening in my life, I can find peace by the water.

He restores my soul...

It make sense that the Creator would allow His Creation (us) to commune with the rest of Creation (nature).  My husband finds his peace in the woods.  My aunt finds her peace hiking the trails of Arizona.  My mom and dad find theirs Jeeping the backroads of Arkansas.

Maybe, just maybe, the Psalmist was a water kinda guy.  As a shepherd it makes sense that he would spend a lot of time by the streams, allowing his flock to drink from the still waters early in the morning.  Maybe that is where he found his soul-restoration.

Where do you find yours?