If you’re looking for a nice drive, near the end of Highway 379 in Jamestown, you will find the Creelsboro Natural Bridge. It’s usually referred to as the Rock House or Rock House Bottom, due to it being at the southern end of Russell County. The water from Jim Creek, a small tributary, flows into the Cumberland River through a gap in the mountainside. Over time, the creek has risen and the water created an opening by extensively eroding the rock walls of the Rock House. Where there was once a mountainside, now lies a huge, hollow cavity.
Water is a soft, malleable substance that has the capability to be stronger than the hardest rock. A flowing body of water has a way of showing us how there is a certain strength in weakness, a power in the fluidity of going with what life gives you. Walls are for grasping for control. Water seeks the lowest point, a humble flexibility that allows it to get to the bottom of an obstacle and find a way through and then make the way easier.
Being able to receive life as it comes brings a certain fluidity that allows you to see and navigate situations in a different light and respond with a clearer mind. Being rigid leaves you unable to accept the change of new and difficult situations. It leaves you with no room to adjust your life. Life is in a constant state of change, and every day brings new difficulties, big and small.
Next time a new situation arises, you may feel upset or stressed. However, instead of rigidly rejecting it and instantly building a rock wall, take a second to remember that moving water is clearer and more powerful than your rock walls.
Watch the situation from a different mindset. See how the situation works itself out if you swim with the current and use the momentum of the water to become more fluid and yielding. A new way may evolve by eroding the pre-existing notions of how your life should go.
Eric Overby lives in Russell County. You can find his poetry on Amazon and more of his writings on Instagram @mindful_stoic_poet.
