Do you remember being a kid during those hot summer days? I always had time for a water balloon fight!
Even now, as a mom I try to have water balloons around in case we need a little family fun. We can learn a lot from water balloons – a lot about ourselves and others.
Water is a tricky thing, often called the miracle liquid. It can be beautiful, peaceful and serene. We admire it for its simple beauty while at the same time we respect, fear, and even try to harness the power it has. Water can offer life and water can take life. With heat and light water becomes vapor, which not only takes up more space, but it also rises; weightlessness allows one to see and move through it with ease. When it is dark and cold, water is changed into ice, again expanding but also becoming dense; it is difficult to move and often sinks.
Now think about a water balloon, one that will not pop. At first when you get a new balloon, it is ready to be filled, it’s walls are opaque and appear strong, having never been tested. In the beginning there is only clear air inside. As the balloon is filled with water, it expands. The walls become more transparent as it continues to grow and it becomes more sensitive to its surroundings.
Imagine this balloon has the ability to FEEL; each time water is added it changes shape, it becomes uncomfortable. How fast it must change or how greatly the walls stretch will determine the level of difficulty and challenge the balloon will endure. Your heart is like the water balloon. The water is all the events and experiences that occur throughout your life.
Water does what it wants, splashing all around, creeping into places you didn’t know existed. Most of us spend a good portion of our lives learning to keep the water calm, trying to minimize the chaos it has been known to create. If we keep the water still (or at least the surface), we can stay in our comfort zones.
We do not get to decide when or how much water is added. There are times when it slowly and gently drips in, allowing us the opportunity to absorb what is happening. Other times, water is poured in with such force the walls shake and tremble. Then there are those experiences that can only be carried in buckets or larger, with an amount and intensity so great that not only is it disruptive, but our hearts are forced to instantly expand. These moments are our heartaches, our pain.
Within each of our struggles we are given a test; how we answer determines the perception of our world, and the world around us. We can choose to tread water, hoping we don’t drown in the same turbulent emotions day after exhausting day while we wait for some outside force to calm our waters. We can protect ourselves from turbulence by freezing the water into ice which will sink into colder, darker places pulling us down with each piece.
Or we can put into action what we learned in science class by transforming water into vapor. It is here -in the light, warm, airy space that compassion not only lives, but thrives. You have to cup your hands together, reach in that pool of water and raise whatever amount you can up towards the light to be released. Little by little, you have the power to transform all of that water into vapor. As the vapor becomes purer it expands and rises, lifting your heart closer to the light, illuminating your world so you can see more clearly. You have the same power to transform ice, but it requires more work. Not only do you need the strength to lift the cold and heavy pieces of ice, but you need the stamina to hold it as it turns back into the turbulent water you once froze.
Should you choose to accept the challenge brought on by this amazing experience we call life, remember this: Just as ice becomes water and water becomes vaper, it can quickly be reversed. Transformation is not an easy thing to do; it is often very painful and accompanied by many tears. It is not a task. It is a journey within the deepest parts of yourself; parts that are quite comfortable staying in the dark. It is a journey of which there is no road map or instructions to guide you. However, comfort and strength can be found in the knowledge that this is not a path we take on our own. As humans, we may not know what to do, but our spirit does. Our spirits haven’t forgotten where they belong; they remember how to reside in a place of compassion, love, and pure light.
Remembering who you really are will not be easy, but I promise this: the more you work to create a space in your heart for compassion and light, the closer you live to your true spirit and your world will become more beautiful.
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