Waterfall Wonderings

The late morning sun dappled through the trees, casting thin beams of light through the understory while painting small white patches of light. Patches shift one way then another dancing as the breeze moved the branches above. The stream ran past the trail on its inevitable destiny of absorption with the sea over ten thousand steps to the east. The adventurer’s mind released worries, released confusion, and released pain with each step ascending the sloping path into the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains.

The heart ache, pain, frustration of hundreds of thoughts and concerns faded one by one with the mists of the lower valleys. A quest for solitude with the One who created this man. A troubled soul sparked this journey, his first such isolated hiking trip ever attempted. The trees still dripped with remnants of morning dew while aromas of flowers, moldy bark and musty earth filled the traveler’s nose. With burgeoning joy and contentment, rising from the heart of the soul, identity began to be examined. Oneness with the Creator was beginning to merge in the deep places within, long untouched by peace.

The rustling of leaves, pushed by warmed air, carried light teasing whispers of a waterfall ahead with cool air flowing over the stream from the cascade of water gifting its coolness to the lowest places of the small ravine. The rumbling turbulence of sound grew until the traveler rounded a stone outcrop and felt the moist pulse of cool damp air escaping the crevice of stone. The entire flow of the stream was pressed between two rising stone banks. Brown leaves remaining from winter covered the edge of each side with stones protruding from the thin soil. Moss clung to precarious positions, while wild vines and rhododendrons grew over the fast flow of water as if to honor the life-giving essence cascading below them.

An iron and wood staircase rose as the trail continued up along the rock face, appearing as if it were placed by pioneers long ago. The aged metal, embraced tenaciously by a rust determined to eat it into oblivion. Under the steps, patches of earth, dusted with leaves indicated that others, previous travelers, had stepped carefully over wet stones to find a comforting place in this sanctuary of solitude. Deep breaths swept in and out of his chest. Flows of air surged over delighted nasal receptors, long deprived of fresh organic scents. Life itself, unveiled by the Creator, to remind those who look that they are loved and matter, even when life doesn’t seem so. Here the traveler did abide, rest, and enter deep contemplation gaining perspective; being invited into a restoration of the heart, soul, and life. Here, the place where the quiet voice of the Creator whispered out of the crescendo flow churning before the observer, was the discovery of life fully alive. “Restoration” came the kind word of the One who birthed all life. “Restoration … peace… life” clearly formed in the man’s mind as the wanderer cautiously questioned the One. “What do you want me to know?” the man whispered hopefully yet carefully. “Love, commitment… forgiveness…” entered his open mind, seeking truth, seeking meaning, seeking… identity.

The water continued to flood over the stones, clear and beautiful with the final hesitant question asked. “Who am I… I mean, why was I made I guess is what I want to know?” Silence, nothing, the last question of all seeking hearts around the world. Emptiness, while the pounding water echoed in the quiet of desolation from an answer that didn’t come. Despair began to rise, like a creature of evil formed from the forest floor, putrid and malevolent reeking of mold and rot to choke out hope and purpose. “Ask and you shall find, knock and it will be opened to you.” The words flowed past the darkness, past the decaying hope and burst through like the first strands of dawns light. “Ask what you actually want to know!”

Tears burst forth rivalling the stream before the searching soul. Sincere, longing, passionate desire for a right understanding of life and existence intended amid the chaotic world. Fear faded as soft words escaped a trembling mouth… “Who am I and what am I supposed to be? What did you bring me into the world for?” Warmth embraced the questioner filling every alcove of his being, wiping away every confused thought and doubt.

“Peace Maker” burst forth from the One, carrying a sense of this having been the man’s intended identity from the beginning of time, but there was something else. A descriptor lingered on the edge just out of reach, just out of sight, held back by the perception that a peace maker was not what was expected or even hoped for.

“Let go! Trust that I Am” came the firm clear injection of thought.

Skyward pink clouds formed as day’s end approached, surrender was released. Surrender as if having been standing on a cliff knowing that safety and security would be found by relaxing and falling forward into the unknown. “I will” was the weeping man’s reply.

“Clandestine” … surprise, joy, and understanding swirled together crashing upon his soul. “You. My beloved, are My Clandestine Peace Maker.” The wandering traveler returned to the life previously known, not as a wandering, self-doubting passer of time, but as a pilgrim with a purpose.