Heart Tracks - No Other Stream

     In the C.S. Lewis Narnia fantasy The Silver Chair, Aslan the Lion is having a conversation with a young girl named Jill.  She's been standing at the edge of a forest, deeply thirsty, and has heard the sound of a flowing stream within the forest.  She ventures into the forest and discovers the stream, but is struck with fear by what she sees there: Aslan the Lion.  After a while, Aslan speaks, "If you are thirsty, you may drink."  So begins their conversation.  "Are you not thirsty?" said the Lion.  "I am dying of thirst," said Jill.  "Then drink," said the Lion.  "Would you mind going away while I do?" said Jill.  The Lion only growled.  "Will you promise not to - do anything to me if I come?"  "I make no promise," said the Lion.  "Do you eat girls?" she said.  "I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms," said the Lion.  "I daren't come and drink," said Jill.  "Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion.  "Oh dear," said Jill.  "I suppose I must go and find another stream then."  "There is no other stream," said the Lion.

     We spend our lives looking for this stream, though we very often have no idea that we are.  There's a longing within us that no other stream can satisfy, and in our searching, we sample so many of them, each one leaving us more thirsty, and more near death than ever.  Through it all, we, like Jill, hear the sound of that life giving stream as it flows through our life reality, and we're drawn to its lifegiving power.  Yet, when we do come upon it, we shrink back, for we cannot drink of that stream without encountering the Lion of Judah who sits beside it.  He's frightening indeed because to drink fully of His stream is to be fully swallowed up by His life.  The poisons of all the other streams we have drunk from rise up against this, fear it, for to drink of His water fully, means we will be free of our craving for that which is no stream at all.  Yet, to drink of this stream requires that we trust the Lion who guards it.  It's either that, or go and find another stream, except, as He said, there is no other stream.  None that lead to life.  None that lead to Him. 
     So why is it so hard for us to drink from this stream?  In part, because we are so blinded by the many "mirage's" the world has to offer.  Each one looks like a beautiful oasis to us...until we try to drink from it, and realize it contains nothing that is truly life.  We're so blinded by the "seen" that we are unable to behold the "unseen."  Like the woman at the well, we can't understand that the water He offers is not of this world.  Or that to drink of it will mean that we aren't either.  So we go on, with a neverending thirst, constantly drinking of that which is no stream at all, and slowly dying of thirst in the process.  We may come to His stream, again and again, but we are frightened of His appearance and presence.  To drink of it is to be destroyed, and in the destruction, remade.  Transformed.  Made new, and alive.  Have you come to that stream?  Are you there now?  Will you be swallowed by that Lion.  Swallowed up in His life?

Blessings,

Pastor O