Parting Your Own Waters in LIfe

Last night as snow settled once again on the planet, it was time again for the inward reflections that part the waters on my life journey. Such beauty and awe, an unexpected snowfall brings into the consciousness. It creates a consciousness of thought and reflection about the moment of time that defines our collective existence. New snow parts the waters and sometimes redirects the journey for each of us.

Sometimes during the redirection along the rivers of life, we are provided with insight on the next phase of our journey. Part of that redirect includes inviting those from our past into our present and revisiting those moments of shared existence and mentorship. I was blessed this weekend to have that experience of inviting a former student back into the shared existence we had over a decade ago. It was indeed a mutual invitation for both of us.

I found our meeting to be both surreal and real as we broke bread together or in our case, fries and salad in the busy interior of diners whose conversations co-mingled along the edges of ours. She was a former student who has blossomed into an educator speaking the depth of truth and direction to students who will someday bless her as she has blessed me with her life experiences and her commitment to service. Watching her part the waters in young lives as she shared her teaching experiences was an incredible sharing of our collective commitment to education and educating students. What we both realized is that our passion for educating young lives may someday impact the student who will someday become the next President, the next teacher, the next think-tank recipient of how to stop global warming or bring peace to a a world that is hurting for connection and a deep rest.

I am grateful for those who touched my life with their friendship, teachings, mentorship and belief in my greatness of purpose and resolve in creating a life of service and becoming an educator to serve. I was grateful to share a moment with someone whose life I touched in the classroom as I realized the power of her teaching on the lives she was now impacting in her own classroom. What was even more powerful was knowing that someday, she would be sitting across the table from one of her students marvelling at the connection of former student and teacher. She would be party to a similar conversation of shared collective experiences in understanding how she would someday help her students part their own waters in life.

We are all the bearers of our life stories and the tools needed to part our own waters in life. It is within our collective humanity that we are the most powerful vehicle for change and promise of a new world and a new day. It is within our own waters that we are the most reflective and the most committed to creating new venues of opportunities and challenges that grow us deeply rooted to the intention of connection and sharing of our life experiences. This weekend, I was able to share a parting of the waters with an incredible and inspiring teacher who will always be my incredible and awesome student.