This summer, 6 souls drove 7,000 miles out West. It was the road trip of a lifetime. It was a tremendous gift. It was a wonderful joy. (It also had many points of difficulty, obviously… I mean, 4 kids in the back of a minivan for 25 days?!)
As we drove, each day, I read. I read to the four pairs of
listening ears in the back. I read to the four precious souls that God has
given me to teach.
One thing we read was “A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23”. A
remarkable book.
The chapter about valleys has stuck to my heart.
When a shephard is taking sheep to the high places for
summer grazing… he walks them through the valleys on the sides of the mountain
to get there. He doesn’t lead them on the crests of the foothills or on the
ridges of the peaks. The best way to get to the rich grazing at the top is
THROUGH THE VALLEYS.
He chooses this path.
On purpose.
Well.
When we hear about valleys in our lives of the lives of
others, we think of the difficulties of a season that we did not choose, that
we would not choose. We beg God to change the circumstances of ‘the valley’ so
that we can get out of that miserable place.
But.
What if those walks in valleys is the ONLY WAY to get to the
top. What if we could never reach the glory of the rich grazing if we are
always avoiding the valley? We won’t make it. Walking in the valley is the best
path to take to get higher.
Our human nature tells us to avoid valleys, hardships,
difficulties, heartache, pain, and discomfort at all costs.
Our human nature lies.
It is the valleys, hardships, difficulties, heartache, pain,
and discomfort that gets us to the higher place (I speak of intimacy with God
as being the higher place here, and of greater understanding and revelation of
His ways).
Are we able to embrace the valleys then? Can the truth of
our wise Shephard God speak to our souls and teach us to somehow embrace the
brokenheartedness that comes in the valley… knowing it is the way to abundance?
I don’t know.
My brain can know things that my heart is stony about.
The pull of the flesh is strong. The pull of the world is
mighty. My desire for comfort and ease is remarkable.
But comfort and ease is not abundance.
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