Just Around the River Bend

The other night, I decided to have a Disney movie flashback and watch Pocahontas for the first time in over ten years. And just so we have this clear, I am a bit of a Disney freak. Yes, I am an 18 year old girl and the majority of what I watch is Disney. But anyway, me and my family watched Pocahontas. Well, since it had been so long since I had watched it, I was practically watching again for the first time. It's amazing how much you don't catch in a movie when you're 6! However, after watching it once more, something jumped out at me, and I automatically knew I had to write a blog about it. The part I'm talking about is when Pocahontas sings "Just Around the River Bend." She is trying to decided on her future and the possibility of marrying the tribe's greatest warrior. Her thoughts were, what's just around the river bend. At one instant it was a waterfall and at another it was were the river parted into two streams. One was a wide stream and one was a small, crooked stream. At this point she is wondering which way to go. Should she just go the easy way and subject to the wishes of her tribe and father by marrying this warrior she doesn't even love? Her decision was no. The end of the song leaves us with her paddling toward the rougher stream. She decided to follow the way she saw fit. Was it easier, no. However, even after all the fights and encounters with the new white men, if she hadn't have chosen the rough path, she never would have met John Smith. 


Well, in life, there are many river bends, and we never know what's going to be there. It may the same as the path you are on now, but it may be a waterfall or branching streams. When you come to the fork in the way, how do you know what to do? Do you take the easier, more popular way, or do you choose the harder one but with a better reward? In Jeremiah 6:16 the bible tells us to "....stand ye in the way, and see, and ask for the old paths ,where is the good way, and walk therein ,and ye shall find rest for your souls..." So, God is telling us to follow the unpopular path. "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." -Matthew 7:13-14. The way that may seem easier could very well not be. Just because one looks worse than the other doesn't mean the ending will be. The ending of each path is different, and you never figure that out until you get there. But, Jesus said "I am the WAY." Follow the path that he gives you even when you think you think your way is better. 


In the movie, Pocahontas, while trying to figure out her path, confides in her guide, Grandmother Willow. The tree tells her to listen to the spirits all around her and they will guide her. Now, I don't believe in the "spirits of the wind," but I do believe in the Holy Ghost. When you don't know how to handle a situation in your life, just listen for him, and he will never lead you astray. 


So, what's around your river bend? You may not know yet, or you may be faced with a decision. Whatever you choose, choose wisely. "But Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the father but by me." -John 14:6. If you choose the path less traveled God will be waiting for you and the end. If you don't you may never achieve what He had planned for you.