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Find out the similarities between a man'slife and the course of a river. What spiritualtruths do they suggest?

Will of the River /Alfredo Q. Gonzates

By the ancestral home of my wife there flows a river.For a dozen summers I have visited it, and almost every year Imake an effort to trace its course back to its home in the neigh-boring hills, for I do not regard my vacation there completewithout doing that. In common with other streams of its kind,our river suffers much from the summer heat. I have seen it soshrunken that fishes lay lifeless on the parched sand and gravelof its bed; but this past summer I noticed something which Inever saw before. Had I been sufficiently observant in otherabnormally dry years, I am sure I could not have failed tonotice the same thing before.

One morning last April, in company with a student friendhnd my elder son, I started out for the hills to spend the daythere by the rapids and cascades at a place called Intongaban.We followed the course of the river. After we had eovered akilometer or more, I obsewed that the riv6r had disappeared,and only the drv bed was to be seen. I looked around in wonderbecause past our little country house and out to the sea half amile or so away, the river was flowing clear and steady in itsusual summer volume and depth. But where we stood thatmoment, there was no water anywhere to be seen. All about usthe wide river bed was hot and dry. On toward the hills we

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Expressions to learo

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irr etriev ably lost themse lves

lowerstratrtmins u rmou n table obstaclesresolutely Pushing its waY

laborious effortsobeyed the summonsspringtime of youth

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pursued our way and not undl we had covered another Lilo'meter did we see the stream again, at the point where it had

spread itself so thin that it was lost at the edge of the waterless

siretch of burning sand and stones. But as we continued ourway into the hiils, we found the river deeper and stronger than

it was as it passed by our cottage.To many people, I suppose, there is nothing strange or signi-

ficant in this. Perhaps they have seen such phenomena more

than once before. To me, however, it was a new experience and

it impressed me with the strangeness of all new experiences.

But it was not merely strange to me. To me, it was highlysuggestive of spiritual truths that can both inspire and impartlessons of considerable value.

One of the thoughts that immediately came to my mind was

the lesson of determination. Flowing down from its cradle in

. the mountains, just as it was leaving the last foothills behiud" itwas checked by the long, forbidding stretch of scorching sand. Ihad read of other streams that upon encountering similar

obstacles irretrievably lost themselves in sand or mud' But

Bakong - for that is the name of our river - determined to reaihthe sei, tunneled its way, sp to speak, under its sandy bed,

choosing, of course, the harder and lower stratum beneath untilat last,

"t tt u end of the long obstacle, it appeared again limpid

and steady on its march to the sea. And then I thought of

human life. I was reminded of many a life that stopped short of

its great end just'because it lacked the power of will io push

thro'ugh inhoipitable hindrances. But I thoqght most of all

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those who, like our river, met with well-nigh irisurmountableobstacles but, undismayed, continued their march, buried inobscurity but resolutely pushing their way to the sea, to the seaof their life's great goal I thought of men like Galileo who con-tinued his work long after.his sight had failed; of Beethovenwho composed his noblest and sublimest symphonies whenalready unable to hear a note; of Stevenson who produced someof his greatest works after he, was doomed to die of con-sumption; and of Crcil Rhodes "who was sent to Africa to die ofan incurable disease, but before he obeyed the summons,carved out an hpire in the Dark Continent." Those resoluteand sublime lives all remind us of what our river has taught us- that if we @nnot overcome obstacles, we can undercomethem.

Another thmgbt I gleaned from Batcong tay in the fact thatthe river wes not merely detennined to flow just anywhere butto reach tbe sea, to resch a great end. Many streams manage tosurmount bartiers somewhere on their way, but they come outof obctrcles after leborbus efforts only to end in a foul andstsSlrnt nsrsh or lale. How like so many persons who in thespringtine of their youtb and in the summer of their early man-hood showed splendid hercism against frowning odds,detenmined to ovencome those hostile barriers, only in theauhrnn of their life to end in defeat, disgrace, and remorse. Onthe other han4 think of other lives that like our river, kepttnre to the very end of their courre.. I believe it was on our way back from the hills that the

lesson of faithfulness to duty was forcefully suggested to me.+ The tnrth occurred to me that nature often fulfills her duty

more faithfully than man does his own.rAnd what is the duty ofa river? It is to furnish safe and running water for plant andfish and fowl and for man and beast. Surely, it is not just to flowon and enjoy itself, but to play its part in the processes ofnature; to live, in other words, for the rest of creation. And so itshould be with the life of man. It is not to be lived unto itselfalone for its own ioy and satisfaction, but for others in glad anddevoted ministry. How much life and beauty and goodiresgindeed, would perish frorn the universe - if man and nature fallin their duty? If our river had not kept faithfully to its duty,instead'of landscape picturesque with the varied green of thefoliage of shEubs and trees and gay with the voices of the birdsthat were mierrily singing arrd calling to one another in theirbranches that April morning, there rnight have been spreadbefore us a wide expanse of desblate and lifeless land, fit forthe wanderings of Cain. And part of the ministering duty:of a

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river is to flow on and on; otherwise, it will be foul and unfit foruse. There is danger in standing water. But i'there is magic inrunning water; no evil can cross it." Bakong, by c-ontinuing itsmarch to the sea, kept itself ready and fit for the senrice ofnature and man, and not only that, but it extended its field ofusefulness. Does this not suggest that the river of man's lifsshould do likewise? For if in the face of obstacles it leckq ttrestrength of will to go on keeping itself ready to serve and seek-ing new opportunities for service, it will ultimately become use-less to others.

As I marvelled at the power of Bakong to push its waythrough such a seemingly barrier, I believe I have discernedthe secret-a secret that may well serve as a message for anyman. For Bakong was able to carry on, to continue its waterypilgrimage and reach the immensity and sublimity of the seaonly because its source is the vast and lofty mountains. Unlessa stream dr:aws its power from a source of sufficient heilht andmagnitude, it cannot do as our liver did this summer. It will nothave the strength to cut its way through great bbstacles andreach the sea at last. Here is one of the marvelous secrets oflife, and how many have missed it! Verily, if a man derives hisstrength and inspiration from a low and feeble source, he willfail to "arrive." Unless man draws his power from some sourceof heavenly altitude and cosmic proportions, unless the streamof his life issues from a never failing source, unless, in otherwords, his soul is fed from.heights of infinite power he maywell fear that he will not reach the sea. But if his spirit isimpelled and nqurished by an inexhaustible power from onhigh, in spite of all obstructions, he will finish his course, if notin the glory of dazzling achievement, at least in the nobility ofcomplete task faithfully done.

Thinking ltThrough

1. In what ways are the life of a man and the course of ariver similar?

2. What truths in life does the author see in the course of7 the river? Do you agree withhim?

3. Show by examples how the following statements work:a. "Unless a stream draws its power from a source of

sufficient height and magnitude, it cannot accom-plish its goal."

b. "If we cannot overcome obstacles, we can undercomethem."

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