Water Over the Dam

Dam at Lake Nockamixon – Photo: L. Weikel

This expression is often used when something has happened and it can’t be taken back.

In the past when I’ve heard this expression, I’ve often imagined the water slurping over the top of the dam, a slosh of water sort of escaping the confines of the dam that’s holding the majority of the water back.

But when I look at the photo of the dam at Lake Nockamixon, which you could argue is ‘holding back’ my favorite local body of water, the Tohickon Creek, you can see that the water is not slurping over the barrier.

No, it’s cascading. It’s rushing headlong, determined on its course.

Reality and Metaphor

It’s fascinating to me how Spirit brings us messages much more frequently than we realize. Sometimes we find ourselves looking for messages everywhere we turn, searching our surroundings for signs that might give us a clue as to how we should decide to respond to a situation or what kind of choice we should make when facing a dilemma.

And sometimes there it is: right in front of our face.

Yes, the eagle flying high overhead could easily be suggesting that we should rise above a situation and look at it from a higher perspective. Try to see the question or issue from more angles than might be obvious to us from our particular vantage point.

But perhaps the message isn’t the eagle flying high above our head.

Maybe the message is in the storm clouds gathering on the horizon, getting darker and darker each moment as we try to focus on the beauty of the lake or the sound of the rushing water rejoining and feeding the Tohickon.

There’s definitely darkness on the horizon – that is quite obvious.

But there’s sunshine in the distance as well.

I only just realized this evening that the answer was staring me in the face:

It’s literally water over the dam. It’s a rush of water, dashing itself on the rocks below.

The thing is, it’s reality: it’s not just a metaphor. It’s water over the dam. It’s done. It’s over. And nothing will get that water back into the lake.