Darkness, flooding, green, tall weeds are in the valley. I do not remember if I got to the Valley swiftly or slowly. I was just there. Hiding. Crawling out. Alone. Missing the sunshine of the hill and dreading the weary walk back up the trail. It will be hard. It will be painful. I will fall. I will get out of the valley again. To see light. To see people. To see God. Oh! He walked out with me. He was with me, quietly, all that time.
Psalm 147:3 “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” NAS
What was your worst “valley”? Who was with you there? What did you learn?
My soul has been washed and the soil has eroded parts of it into long channels of despair. The design of my blocks to stop soul erosion are not always successful. Determination is in the form of straw and stubble bound together with binder twine and placed strategically where potential erosion could occur. And the water goes around it. A new eroded path is started. I have to move the blocks once again. It feels like nothing and no one can slow this erosion of my soul. I have to try. And keep trying. At least until it slows. “We are in an abyss that only God can fill.” Augustine of Hippo
Mark 6:33 “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest awhile.”
What do I use to stop the erosion of my soul? How is it working for me? What do I do to slow down the loss of focus?
I never want to end a hike or a walk. I feel that I could walk forever in the mountains. Take a new trail. Climb a new hill. Yet life calls us to re-enter. Our homes call us back. There are rare people who walk and hike all their lives to new places, but it comes at a cost. The walks, the beauty, and the views are more spectacular because they are seen rarely. The changes in our family, the aging of parents and growth of children are seen slowly through the prism of time. Then we truly see. A moment of change that is precious. A moment to remember. Our re-entry is complete. We have touched the divine.
Genesis 3:8 “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day.”
How do you feel at the end of a walk? A break? A vacation? A retreat? What do you do to prepare for your re-entry? For your families welcome?
