Confluence

Confluence   : the stream or body formed by the junction of two or more streams : a combined flood

Early this year I marked my 70th birthday and I added Septuagenarian to my vocabulary list. I decided to honor the occasion by considering this year to be my septuagenarian journey. Halfway through the year, while on a  meadow hike on a local trail, I discovered a marker which discussed the confluence of our local waterways. Confluence was the word I had never had in my vocabulary before and I felt drawn to the concept.  My family and I live on the edge of deciduous woods, where from every window we can see the seasons flowing by. With this new concept in mind, many of my works this spring consisted of pieces on the theme of the confluence of the seasons. Honoring that place where winter and spring meet up and flow into summer. 

From this consideration, I came to the new thought that my life is a confluence. My spiritual life, my human life, my artistic life, are all caught up with the seasons flowing by me. My life is a Confluence rather than separate elements vying against each other for my time, thought, and energy. 

So,in referring back to the above definition, my life is the flowing together of several streams, “a combined flood”, A River of Gratitude