Summer has come to White Bear Lake!  Both air and water temperatures have become warm, and I have resumed my practice of paddle boarding almost every day in the early morning hours.  It took a couple of weeks, but now I find that I am finding the flow.  You see, paddling, much like swimming or running or many other sports, has a certain flow to it.  There is much more to an efficient paddle stroke than simply sticking one’s paddle in the water and pulling it with one’s arms.  Rather, there is a proper way to catch the water with one’s paddle.  A proper way to push with one arm while pulling with the other, simultaneously retaining a loose grip of one’s hands on the paddle.  There is the rotation and bending of one’s torso, the relaxed flexing of the knees, the clean release of the paddle from the water, and finally the springing of one’s body back into the starting position once again.  An efficient paddle stroke may be deconstructed to these individual parts, and each part may be practiced separately.  The fun really happens, however, when all the parts come together as a whole.  It feels almost effortless, and the board just seems to fly over the water.  That’s what I mean by finding the flow.

This same phenomenon happens for athletes in many other sports.  It happens for musicians and artists and dancers.  And it happens in our spiritual lives as well.

This past Sunday we celebrated the Feast of the Holy Trinity.  The Christian doctrine of the Trinity posits that God has unity of being and trinity of persons.  In other words, we believe that while God is one, God may be experienced as three. The three persons of the Trinity seem to dance with one another and, in that beautiful relationship of mutual and abundant love, there is divine flow.  There is love and life flowing between the Persons of the Trinity and love and life emanating from the Persons of the Trinity.  

While it is so excruciatingly difficult to describe the life of the Trinity, it is, nonetheless, absolutely real and accessible to each of us. You see, God invites each and all of us into the divine dance of love and life. God teaches us the steps and continues to mentor us as we catch on to what the dance is all about.

As Christians, we try to be in rhythm with the beat that God is playing.  We try to listen carefully and watch for the movement of the Spirit.  Each day we try to learn a new step or to improve upon a step already learned. And some days, it actually all comes together so well that we sense the breath of God in our lungs and feel the presence of God coursing through our veins and arteries.  It doesn’t happen every day, but on those special occasions when all the parts come together, we know that God is with us and that everything is good, very good.  That’s what it means to find the flow.

No, it doesn’t happen every day.  Most days we are just practicing and attempting to perfect the different parts of an efficient paddle stroke, the various steps in a beautiful dance routine, the many notes of a complex musical score.  Many days it feels as if we will never get it.  Ah, but some days….  some days, it all comes together.  And life and love and abundance and joy and grace and peace and oneness and harmony are the result.  On those days we can’t explain it, but we know that God has grasped both of our hands, and we have joined in the divine dance.  On those days, we know we have found the flow.

~Father Art