Lessons from the Little Stream

A favorite children’s song of ours is “Give Said the Little Stream.”

“Give,” said the little stream;
“Give oh give, Give oh give.”
“Give,” said the little stream
as it hurried down the hill.
“I’m small I know but wherever I go
The grass grows greener still.”
Singing, singing all the day
Give away, oh give away.
Singing, singing all the day
Give, oh give away.

A new “thing” we’ve started in our family is making “little stream” cookies, which means we make a batch of cookies and give them all away (ok, so we DO snitch some dough and one or two cookies each!!!).

I think that sometimes we get too busy in our lives to really take care of our “neighbors” as we should. This last year has been WAY over the top busy for my comfort level, (it still is, but I’m consciously working on it) and to be honest one of the things that was the hardest for me was feeling like I was too busy to be a true friend, wife, mother or daughter. I didn’t feel like I could take time to “just chat” or to stop and visit for a minute. I was emotionally and physically “unavailable.”

I think in today’s society we have gotten so caught up in our own lives that we are missing valuable and wonderful opportunities to care for, share with, and learn from others. I miss the times we used to have when I was younger when we would go over and visit the neighbors on their porches or out in their yards. In today’s world, it’s hard to know if it’s ok to just “drop by” because everyone is so busy.

Maybe it’s time we all learned a lesson from the “little stream.” And maybe the most important thing for us to “give away” is our time and sincere friendship.