Running rivers

One of the best movies from the last quarter of 20th century was A River Runs through It. Its theme of life just happening for good or ill next to a river pulsing through the territory still stands out to me. The picture above reminds me so much of the land from the movie, and its universal symbols for the lives of those who watched it.

Snow blizzard fences have been constructed to block blowing, blinding snow from covering the meadow where cattle or buffalo graze. Mountains form a ridge in the background to make their presence known without being too imposing on the landscape. The sky is partly clouded with some gray, some white, shielding the sun from the scorching the grass in the meadow. Sage brush clumps have grown in pockets around the land in the picture. And, although the sun is veiled, its rays still bathe the mountainside and the land at the foot of this tall terrain as if it is defiant in announcing that no one can truly hide the sun. All of this along the river running through the land.

Comparing the theme of the movie that life happens along the river, and the picture that represents it here, I find a number of parallels. I have certainly had mountains to climb (who hasn't!). I have fortunately had snow blizzard fences to keep the white blanket from completely covering my landscape, freezing the meadows I operate in or blinding me from seeing its worth. Skies in my world have been cloudy at times and shielded the sun. I have smelled the musty, rather colorless sage of life, but at least it shows that there is life going on.

Oh, and did I leave out the sun rays spilling down the mountainside filling the valley below? Oh no, not a chance! I saved it to single out the source of my living as the river runs through my life. I have one in a place within whose cheer allows me to press forward, whose spirit rains warm rays on my thoughts, and whose brilliance cannot ever be completely shielded from lighting the lay of the land in my life. It's the main feature in a life with a river running through it!