"Going With the Flow". What does that mean?

This may be a different take on what is commonly believed to just "going with the flow".

According to Urban Dictionary, "going with the flow" means":

1. To not push against prevailing behavior/norms/attitudes, occasionally including bowing to peer pressure. 

2. To not attempt to exert a large amount of influence on the course of events, whether a specific series of events or events in general. A person who does this is often referred to as "laid back" or "easygoing". 

Well, this is NOT what my definition is. In fact, I don't ever want to be that version of "laid back" or "easygoing" because it sounds an awful lot like a pushover and someone who doesn't have much integrity.

Well, while on an airplane, I had an epiphany of what it means to go with the flow in a healthy, constructive, righteous way. 

To begin, there is something we have to understand about going with the flow. A stream may seem like it's running it's course freely without restriction; whatever speed, direction, and intensity it so desires, but there are a lot of forces at work that support the water's freedom and give it the ability to hit obstacles without worry and flow right past them with ease.

There are boundaries that are well defined. There's a river bed that holds its shape. There are elevation and depth differences that allow gravity to do it's job. Only within those borders can the water run freely without worrying about getting stuck for too long. 

In life, a person should not just sit back and let society define their morals or control their behavior; they certainly should not avoid putting their influence for good out into the world. We need the borders of a stream (good morals, the ability to say yes/no, knowledge between right and wrong) in order to flow without worrying that we will end up in an unfortunate situation. We need the boundaries, goals, budgets, restrictions (which are actually freeing like commandments), and borders that will allow us to move freely within the bounds of safety, peace, and adventure without resulting in a dried up or stagnant puddle that goes nowhere. 

This is the easy going, carefree, laid back person that I want to be-- and I can only be like that when I have faith in the Lord who is the Master in control. We can hit trials and have obstacles put in front of us (like boulders in the stream) but can remain calm, positive, hopeful, and optimistic as we flow easily around them because we know the Lord is helping us along as log as we stay within His defined riverbed. Try to jump the riverbed... it won't end up pretty!