Where I live, there are no streams nearby. There are massive rivers, but no streams. That may sound unimportant, and in the great scheme of things it is. But I grew up with a plethora of streams all about. In Maine, streams are everywhere, from small creeks to significant sized brooks. Here, the closest stream is well over a 30 minute drive.
“What’s the difference?” you may well ask.
The difference is that with large rivers, everyone knows where the river leads and how it flows. With a stream, which disappears into a forest, it winds and turns; flows and spills in a mystery. One actually has to follow that stream beyond what’s plainly seen from a field or highway. One must enter the realm of the stream itself. Follow its path, in order to discover its secreted wonders.
I recall many such adventures as a child and even as an adult. I would cross bridges on old scarcely travelled roads and see streams and wonder where they led, where their path would take someone. What forest does it water? What trees has it fed for decades? How many beautiful Trout does it support? I have crossed bridges on well travelled roads and known that miles away, another bridge, on another road, also crossed this same stream. But what lies in between the bridges? What mysteries await; what treasures of natural beauty does this stream pass? I have followed these streams into forests deep and thick, only to have them lead me to an opening in the middle of a forest, miles from mankind. I have followed streams that I was certain flowed a certain general path and reappeared miles away, but when I’ve followed their path, I discovered that the stream forked and also went to a place I had not known.
These many years later I have come to recognize that life itself is a stream. Where exactly its path will take us is a mystery. We will follow its flow to the end and there discover a secret place where the living waters gather. Along the way, many new things, many beautiful things await our discovery. We may walk this stream of life with our eyes straining to focus on what lies ahead, around the next bend, or we may choose to enjoy the place where we now are for its own blessings, while still looking forward with anticipation to the joy and discovery which this stream will next reveal to us.
Maybe I was wrong. Maybe there is a beautiful stream where I live after all.
Blessings and Shalom!

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