From the River Bottom

Being a boy mom, I often find myself thinking about random things. The other day, a picture came to mind that I haven't been able to shake, and of all things, it started with a rock. Every rock is different. Some are smooth, some are rough, and some seem a little misshapen. Each one is unique.

Now imagine that rock being tossed into a stream.

Suddenly, it's underwater. The current is pushing it along, tumbling it across the bottom. It can't get its footing. It can't catch its breath. And it feels like everything around it is determining where it goes next. The rock has a choice to make.

It can continue being shaped entirely by its surroundings—allowing the current to push it, wear it down, and determine what it becomes. Or it can begin intentionally shaping itself. So, the rock starts to change.

It pours into itself. It builds on truth. Little by little, it becomes stronger.

At first, nothing around it changes. The current is still there. The water is still rushing over it. The other rocks haven't moved. But the rock has changed.

Eventually, it notices something. It's not being shoved around quite as easily anymore.

It can hold its ground.

So it keeps working. Over time, it grows strong enough to rise above the water.

It can breathe again. And now the rock is excited. It can finally see beyond the current that once consumed everything around it.

One day, a couple walks along the bank. They stop, point toward the water, smile, and talk about how beautiful the view is. After they leave, the rock looks around.

And that's when it realizes something incredible.

It isn't a little rock being tossed around on the river bottom anymore.

It has become a boulder.

And the current that once determined where it went...

now changes direction because of it.

What is shaping you?

Sometimes life can feel a lot like sitting on the bottom of that river.

We're pushed by circumstances, expectations, fear, responsibilities, other people's opinions, old beliefs, and things completely outside of our control.

When we're in the middle of that current, changing our circumstances can feel impossible.

However, changing everything around us isn't where we begin. We start by looking at what's happening within us.

What am I believing?

What am I assuming?

What is actually true?

What thoughts am I allowing to determine where I go next?

The current may not stop just because we begin doing the work. Our circumstances may not immediately change.

But we can.

As we become clearer about what is true, more intentional about what we believe, and more aware of how we're responding, something begins to happen.

We stop being carried quite so easily. We find our footing. We create capacity.

Eventually, the change happening within us begins to influence the world around us.

The question isn't whether life will shape us. It's whether we'll have a say in what we're becoming.

Change starts small.

What is one thought you could look at differently today than you did yesterday?

Clarity creates freedom.

— Lacey Brent, Bearing North