Headwaters

Headwaters

A new piece of information about me, I was born in Minnesota. My dad was from Minnesota and my Mom is from Iowa. They came to Tennessee for my mom to get her teaching degree from Milligan College. They fell in love with the area and never left. This is a similar story to many graduates of Milligan College. I digress.

Many of our family vacations were spent visiting grandparents in either Iowa and Minnesota. On one particular vacation, I remember going to Northern Minnesota to visit Lake Itasca. This may not sound like a significant location to you, but it is the headwaters of the Mississippi River.




What struck me as a kid, was how large the Mississippi River was. We had to cross it going and coming every year to visit my grandparents. I was always marveled by the barges and shipping yards that I would see along its banks. This river travels over 2500 miles, carrying fresh glacial water, to the Gulf of Mexico. This water is the source of life for plants and animals to all that it touches. Not just plants and animals in and along the river banks, consider the fact that without the constant flow of fresh water to our oceans the seas would not be able to sustain life. The salt content would rise too high. The Dead Sea is a perfect case in point.

 So you can imagine how perplexed I was, as a kid, to be standing at the headwaters of this mighty river and be able to walk across it ankle deep. How could something so small, become something so large and powerful? As I look at a map of the river, I think I see the answer:

Along the 2500 miles that it travels, there are other rivers that flow into it. Each additionally giving the Mississippi more power the longer it flows. Each river contributes to the fresh, life giving force.

Thanks to a presentation that I have recently heard and a couple of books that I have read, this memory resurfaced. I think this memory has an application to us today. Each of us are “Headwaters” in the following ways:

First, Everything and Everyone starts somewhere. Sometimes in the most insignificant and unsuspecting places. The daily, small actions and decisions that we make can have a huge impact when they are coupled with the daily small actions and decisions of others who are moving in the same direction and committed to the same goal!

Second,There are people that are always living in our downstream. Questions we need to ask ourselves are, Would the things I touch, cease to exist if we stopped flowing?  Is the water/air that I provide adding life to those that I touch? Who and what are you pouring into that will have an impact, long after we are gone?

Before we talk again, we will enter into a New Year! Time for resolutions and commitments. I hope that you are able to recharge and rejuvenate with family and friends. But I hope that you are also able to reflect on the questions above and return with a renewed commitment to the mission of being “Headwaters” of Impact.

Blessings to all


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