Like A River, Not A Lake

One of my favorite places we have taken our boys when they were young and living in the Great Northwest was Ross Lake and Colonial Creek Campground. Ahhhh, the memories of those trips.. I have so many great things to share but there is one inspiration I have from one of our camping trips there with my own personal insight.  There was something special and unique about this lake unlike any other I have been to. Ross Lake is a large reservoir in the North Cascade mountains of Washington state. It is a lake that is formed by the impoundment of the Skagit River, by Ross Dam. The Skagit River flows through two more reservoirs before running to the Puget Sound.  By definition from Wikipedia "a lake is a body of relatively still, fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land.   Lakes are always inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams, which are usually flowing. However most lakes are fed and drained by rivers and streams."

I once heard that life is like a river, not a lake.  When I think of that concept there is so much truth to that and after reading the above descriptions of the contrast of a lake to a river or a stream I can say it all makes sense to me.  A lake is still, localized in a basin, not moving and stagnant in nature. Stagnant is a state of not flowing in a current or stream, not moving forward and not developing. While a stream or a river is defined as a stream of abundant flow and of water emptying into an ocean, lake or other body of water and usually fed along its course by converging tributaries.  When you observe rocks in a lake comparing to rocks you find by a stream or in a flowing river you will see a dramatic contrast. What you will see is that the still waters of a lake or basin of water the rocks are with rough edges, they are with very obvious bumps, lumps and points on them. However you will notice at the river or streams the rocks are always smooth, soft and all the rough edges have been smoothed out. This is because of the flowing and heavy consistant water's movement.  You see, the constant flow of the river's power and consistency has caused the 'edges' and roughness to be 'smoothed' out. Wow, what a cool concept and if we relate that to our lives we can see why the truth can be related to our own journey! In our lives we have hardships, we have trials, we have times we want to give up and become stagnant like a lake.

Life should be lived like a river, not a lake. Always flowing, always moving forward, not becoming stagnant with a foul smell, but with life, energy and always looking for a path to flow. God has created us to be this way and the bible is full of descriptives about our lives in relation to streams and rivers. I hope you will join me in overviewing a few of these scriptures today as we evaluate water wells of your life.

God's Word and it's relation to our lives like rivers...
In Psalm 1:3 it says "He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers." and in John 7:38 it says " Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." 
In Amos 5:24 "But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!"