excerpt from CHEROKEE FEAST OF DAYS, DAILY MEDITATIONS, by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
Little is more symbolic to the Cherokee than a crystal-clear flowing stream. The banks of such a stream have known the most meaningful prayers, the worship and gratitude of the innermost soul. It is here that the Great Spirit speaks to us in supernatural ways, for the Cherokee. The stream not only cleanses and washes away wrong and error but it is the tongue over which slip the words that have been fed there by the last rain. The words are a direct form of communication to the Great Holy Spirit, Who so centers our lives. All rivers run to the sea - whether it is a person's life or the flowing stream. Some of it is turbulent, some peaceful - with depths and shallow places, with swift mainstreams and circling eddies. But it is always moving, always gathering into its flow the experiences that make us who we are.
