The Parable of the River

Vít Šmajstrla

The Parable of the River

autor: Vít Šmajstrla

The wide, endlessly spilling and shallow river is only imperceptibly flowing forward. There is usually so little water that you can see the bottom, which in some places is swampy. Between the marshes, the water flows somewhat faster in places, only to spill again into the stagnant shallows. The occasional scattered small islands are more comforting.

There are a large number of boats on the river. People are sitting in them and trying to get their vessels to move forward. Some row, some push off with perches, the strongest wade in front of the boat and pull the boat on ropes. Others sit idle in their boats.

Everywhere in the shallows and marshes around the boats there are other people - alone or in groups, they are squatting on the ground, sometimes walking uncertainly for a short time in a certain direction, but all of them are sinking into the mud and their walking is difficult. They find some rest on one of the islands.

The people in the boats invite the wading bystanders and people from the islands to join them in the boats, but there are very few responders - they see no reason to get in, as the boat's forward progress is hardly obvious. Still, occasionally someone will step up, but most only for a short time. Few stay in the boats permanently, and even fewer engage in rowing or rescuing bystanders.

People in the boats are frustrated by the slowness of progress, they suffer from submarine sickness, they argue among themselves, many forget about the people around them and only solve the problems of their fellow passengers. There are fewer and fewer who row steadily, push off perches, pull boats on ropes or rescue.

Many passengers in boats look over the edges for running water - but there is little of it, it always flows slowly and only briefly, then spills back into the stagnant shallows. So each boat passes through faster and slower sections. 

Passengers change from slower to faster boats, but in principle they cannot speed up their progress. Occasionally someone gets off completely and stays on a good-looking island or even in the shallows. The boats are also exposed to all sorts of attacks from the outside.

The passengers in the boats are looking for big really flowing water, but it is not coming. They talk about the countries where the water actually flows, they recall the faster stretches and the floods of long ago, which they know only from literature and stories.

Some, for the sake of remembering and dreaming of great waters, forget to row, push off and tow; others, for the sheer toil of it, forget to look for the flowing water and long for it.

Explanatory notes:

River = cesta našeho života tekoucí do cíle, tedy k setkání s Pánem,

Boats = the churches

lidé v loďkách = Christians

People outside = unbelievers

Swamp = this world

Islands = the false certainties and pleasures of this world

Level height = the level of the Holy Spirit

Flood = revival

Explanation: i když se zdá, že loďky postupují pomalu nebo vůbec, ve skutečnosti jen jejich pohyb je smysluplný a jen ony mají šanci doplout k cíli. Pasažéři se musejí vyvarovat obou extrémů – přestat usilovně pracovat na pohybu vpřed a na záchraně lidi okolo a přestat se modlit za nárůst hladiny.

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