Flip-flops And Mountain Streams

Flip-Flops and Mountain Streams

Many waters cannot quench love,nor can rivers drown it.

Song of Songs 8:7

An African proverb says, “Let your love be like the misty rain, coming softly but flooding the river.” My falling in love, however, was more like a baptism.

As a blossoming young woman, I noticed that the boy I had climbed trees with as a child had matured into a strapping, handsome young man.

I invited Noel to join some friends and me for a picnic at a popular spot. It was to be the perfect day, until my friends could no longer come. But Noel was still keen to keep our date.

I had not visited this spot, surrounded by flowing waterfalls, for years. By the time we got there, we had soft rain instead of sunny skies. The trees and waterfalls had grown since my last visit, leaving little dry ground.

We took a shortcut around a rocky ledge that bordered an icy mountain pool. Afraid I would fall, I clutched a borrowed camera and my flip-flops tightly to my chest with my right hand, while navigating the slippery edge with my left.

Noel reached back to me and said, “Let me help you.”

“It’s okay. I can manage,” I said.

Seconds later, my foot slipped. As I sank beneath the icy water, my right hand shot up to keep the camera out of the water. When my head broke the water’s surface, I looked up to see my perfectly dry flip-flops silhouetted against the sky. The camera, secured around my neck, hung beneath the water.

This time I eagerly accepted Noel’s extended hand to pull me out.

One fuzzy photo and an exorbitant repair bill were not all I got from the cold experience. Eighteen months later, Noel and I married. Our love is still strong after twenty-seven years.

But isn’t it exciting that God’s unquenchable love is far greater than the deepest earthly love?

—Marion C. Ueckermann

O Lord, how priceless is your unfailing care! Engulf us with a sense of your divine love, we pray. Amen.