Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Through the Valley

This morning in our weekly Bible study, we studied Psalm 23.  It's one of those Psalms I'll be able to recite from my grave, but I really enjoyed revisiting it.  I was struck by several things as we meditated on it.

1.  "He makes me lie down in green pastures."  This morning I imagined a very busy sheep, wanting to move on and move on, gently being hooked with a shepherd's crook and guided to a nice, quiet spot in the meadow.  It does seem like this month is already super busy, but it's really just our weekends.  However busy our days and weeks get, I still need to make time for meditation and rest.

2.  "The valley of the shadow of death" and the "evil" that we shouldn't fear.  As a child, I think I imagined something along the lines of Pilgrim's Progress--a dark valley with monsters hemming me in.  Now, it seems like the evil to fear is my own sin nature:  for example, a few things this week have really tested the limits of my patience.  If I don't have enough patience now, when I only have two relatively easy children to deal with, how am I going to do it with a third, needy child?  It is something I worry about, but I don't need to. 

The end of our meditation (we were using the Lectio Divina steps) was to consider our 'call to action' from the passage.  While I may not have infinite patience (I don't), God does, and He is always with me.  I'm going to view this time before our daughter arrives as a time to practice finding that rod and staff (and the comfort they bring).  Maybe Katie and I need to memorize a specific passage of Scripture together--one that will remind both of us that fussing and whining (or losing one's temper) only causes problems.  I'll be analyzing the not-so-great days to see if there is a pattern.  I am a scientist, after all.  :)  And I'll be reminding myself that His strength is made perfect in weakness.

No comments:

Post a Comment