From the Pastor's Pen

Dear Friends,

I was reading through an old devotional booklet today and came across an entry that touched me.  It talked about walking through the valley, which I often associate with the valley of the shadow in Psalm 23.  That’s a tough association.  With all that is happening in our world these days, it’s hard to not feel like we are in the valley of the shadow.  So let me share this devotional entry that is over 30 years old.  I don’t even know the author.  I just hope it speaks to you as it did to me.

“As they go through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs.”  Psalm 84:6

As I enter the valley, I give in to the mood of the drooping trees.  A grey, thirsty land wipes me grey and evaporates my freshness of spirit.  No sound stirs my melancholy but the tramp of feet on the road.  Head down, I see only the few feet of dusty highway in my close-focused view and forget the fertile hills through which we passed, the guide who set us on our way, and the companions who march at my side.

Gradually I grow aware that the sound of humming has intruded into my dullness.  I lift my head; it is one of those with whom I journey.  I join in, seeing the valley with new sight, realizing that grey is not drab but subtly shaded, noting that there is life creeping in the valley and feeling the freshness of a breeze that draws me up again and stirs my companions’ hair.  Our eyes meet, and recalling that toward which we travel, we begin to sing:

Glorious things of thee are spoken,

Zion, city of our God!

Peace,

Pr. Sally