This summer our family will go to Lake Tahoe for the first time. Lakes normally have been a place of relaxation and renewal. But because of the droughts – both here in Texas and in California – lakes are no longer a source of comfort but a reason for concern.

My parents have a place on Lake Bridgeport and for the past several years the water level has been so low that my dad’s sailboat has sat abandoned at the dock as there is no water to get it out of its slip so it has sat on the dry sandy ground that was once a part of the lake. This has all changed in the last month as the drought in Texas has finally ended and this May was the wettest on record. Lake Bridgeport has ben restored to her normal water level but my family won’t be enjoying the return of the water because with all that rain came storms and my parents condo was destroyed by a tornado that was part of the system that brought the water to the lake.

Water – without it, there is no life. With too much of it – life is destroyed.

This reflects the spiritual journey. Not enough and we are left feeling thirsty with our meaningless lives and lost wondering existence. Too much and we lose touch with reality living in a fantasy world divorced of real people and real experiences. The practice is to find balance – that place where our thirst is quenched and we have enough to make it until the next rain. As moments in life take us from drought to flood, may we find our own level as we seek the life giving water of balance.

(c) 2015 Deanna Hollas