UPFRONT August 21, 2006 Issue

To gentle the extremes

PATRICIA KADICK, STAFF EDITOR

Beside a river or lake my heart sings, and whatever I may be anxious or uptight about slips away. It's no surprise then that people flock to lakes and oceans at a moment's notice, or plan for an entire year around such a possibility. Even a cascading fountain can have that same captivating effect as the water falls soft and welcoming.

Perhaps the appeal is in the very nature of water itself, for it simply flows around anything in its path. No identity crisis, no deliberation about what should go first, left or right, or even which way is correct. No question of moving an "it" out of its way.

To me this suggests being in the presence of "the spiritual outpouring of bliss and glory," as Mary Baker Eddy referred to the city of God in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. 574). Right there, in natural deference to God's supremacy, angst and rigidity wash away. After all, it is God's realm. He takes responsibility for each design, maintaining every detail with light and lightheartedness, and with windows and doors always open.

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