Is Your Water Running Deep or Shallow?

Dear Loving People,

Really, I should ask you the question; is your water running deep or shallow? While I grew up through primary school, I quickly memorized the adage “slow waters run very deep.” The few of us, who shared the pleasure of guessing what that meant, were often quick to make that statement to a mate whom we assumed to be discreet and who suddenly committed an offence. We were often self-confident in making that statement especially with the aura of an intellectual.

Have you asked yourself what that statement could actually mean after all? I would say it's based on the simple notion that the deepest rivers and streams do have the calmest surfaces. When you look at them on the surface, they look like nothing at all is happening, but behold! Below, the water is flowing at a high velocity.

Now let’s come back to our lives, if you observe well, you will notice that most people who have a calm exterior enjoy rich and interesting personalities. Get close to some of them; you will notice they have fascinating ideas. What then do we make of this? The lesson here is that, those who are quiet, seem to be slow or appear withdrawn, may be worth paying more attention to than the talkative and vibrant types like me. Don’t get me wrong here; I am not insinuating that introversion is a better personality type than extroversion.

In the Christian Bible, Ecclesiastes 1:7 says “All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again” (ESV)

Streams and rivers flow into the seas year-in, year-out yet they make more noise than the seas that absorb them. Think about what a river sounds like especially at the upper course. It is shallow, so noisy, bubbling, transporting huge rocks that hit against one another, causing massive erosion and creating tons of silt. What happens as it approaches the mighty sea? It gets deeper and calmer. The huge rocks are broken down to pebbles and sand, the silt is beginning to settle down and only the sludge remains in suspension.

When the river meets the giant sea, it completely calms down; dropping off the entire load it’s been transporting from source and gets lost in the mighty waters of the sea. The sea with all its huge volumes of water is relatively calm, extremely deep and ready to accommodate the river.

Quiet people are often very thoughtful; they process information before making statements. Outgoing people on the other hand like me, process information while they talk. You must know where you fall and start making the best of it. That is a stepping stone to success.