Even though I walk through the valley…

Posted on June 11, 2014 by Lynn

Comox ValleyOne of the most beautiful places to visit is the Comox Valley in B.C.  My husband grew up there and we return year after year to spend time with his family.  Comox means “Place of Plenty” and the description is an apt one.  One of the most picturesque sites is overlooking the valley from the Back Road.  The view is spectacular with the mountains and glacier as the backdrop, the ocean to the left, and the green, fertile farmland below.  Certainly we Alberta landlubbers are drawn to the ocean, and we appreciate the mountains, but the valley is the heartbeat of Comox.  Locals shop in the “valley”, farm in the “valley”, go to school and work in the “valley”.  The people may look to the hills and to the ocean, but they tend to do the majority of their living in the “valley”.

Driving around Comox, there are sights and sounds in the valley that overwhelm the senses.  From the cacophonic honks of Trumpeter Swans nesting in the lowlands to the shrill peal of Eagles circling overhead, not to mention the routine drone of air force planes taking off and landing at the Comox air base, it is a thrilling natural and unnatural orchestra of sound that emanates in and around the valley.  The gardens are plush, the farmland is fruitful.  Truly it is a peaceful place, if one only takes time to appreciate it.

When we think of valleys in life though, we do not associate them with beauty but with heartache.  Valleys are places to be avoided, or to walk through quickly.  Our sights are always set on the mountaintop experiences, never on the valleys.  Valleys are associated with suffering and grief.  “Vale of tears” is a phrase that refers to Earthly sorrows that are left behind when one enters heaven.  “Vale” means a valley or a dale.  The expression hearkens to the 23rd Psalm with reference to the “valley of the shadow of death”.  When we grieve, we are in a “dark valley”, when we rejoice we are “on top of the world”.

So let’s contrast the “top of the world” with the “valley” for a moment.  I have observed that when I am in the Comox Valley my eye is constantly drawn to Mount Washington.  I have been told that the skiing there is fantastic, and it is supposedly the second busiest winter recreation destination in B.C. just behind the Whistler/Blackcomb resort.    The thing is, despite having visited Comox for over thirty years, I have yet to visit Mount Washington.  I have been told that the view of the Comox Valley from Mount Washington is absolutely spectacular, which leads me to deduce that those who have been up to that mountain top spend a lot of time looking down at the valley.  So I can’t help getting a little philosophical here.  When we’re in the valley we look up, and when we’re on the mountain we look down.  Am I right?

As a Christian I have done that repeatedly.  In the valley I looked Up and when on the mountain I looked down.  How many times have I cried out to the Lord, “Help!  Get me out of this deep valley!  Rescue me!”  I don’t want to stay in the valley; I want to be on the mountain.  I have often mistaken the mountaintop experience as being closer to God somehow.  And yet some of the most beautiful encounters I’ve had with God have happened right there in the valley.

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.”  I look up to God and I discover that He is right there in the valley with me and I am comforted.   I have also noticed that the times I am “on top of the world” a kind of self-sufficiency comes over me and I forget Who it was that guided me over all those rocky places as I climbed out of the valley.  The “rod and staff” are not as necessary at the top of the mountain and rather than feel closer to God I have a tendency to look longingly down because it was there in the valley that I feel the closest to Him.

It is not by accident that the Psalmist paints a word picture of the Good Shepherd leading His flock of sheep through a valley.  It was common practice then as it is now for a shepherd to guide his flock to prime grazing grounds.  The shepherd allowed the sheep to feed and quench their thirst in the streams there for a while and then would guide them up the slopes and over the rocky terrain to the next pasture ensuring that there was always an abundance of food for the herd.  But traveling from valley pasture to the next meant negotiating through narrow ravines or wadis, or journeying over rocky and dangerous terrain.  It required the sheep to not run ahead of the shepherd.  The shepherd was the guide, he determined the path and direction, to stray from the path could prove destructive for the sheep.  Likewise it was the shepherd who determined how long the sheep would stay in the valley.  Once he felt they had been sufficiently nourished, he would guide them on to the next pasture.  He would help the sheep traverse the slopes out of the valley but he would not linger long on the mountaintops because of the scarcity of food there for his sheep.  Although the sheep may have enjoyed the view from the mountain and preferred not to have to negotiate the rough terrain leading down to the next valley, the shepherd knew that it was in the valleys that he would be able to adequately feed and prepare his flock for the next journey ahead of them.

It is also interesting to note that the Psalmist says, “Even though I walk through the valley…”  It does not say, run, skip, jump or rush.  The journey from valley to valley for the sheep is not a time of running quickly through one just to get to the next pasture.  Time is spent being nourished and cared for by the shepherd at each destination for as long as the shepherd decides before moving on to the next pasture.  It is also not a place to stop and set up camp indefinitely.  Walk “through” the valley, means just that.  It is something to be experienced and then move on when the shepherd signals to move on.

My family and I are walking through one of those “valleys” right now.  Notice I say we’re “walking through“, we’re not rushing through it, nor are we going to camp here indefinitely.  We’re walking through, taking our time, being comforted by the Good Shepherd, and we’ll move on when He says move on.  Until such time, we will take nourishment from Him here in the valley, and though our eyes may stray to the mountain from time to time, we will find rest and comfort here for now.  “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want.”

 

(Originally posted on February 9, 2010 – “Even though I walk through the valley” was the winner of a Canadian Christian Writing Award that year.)

 

Posted in Family Life, Inspiration & Devotion, Proverbs 16:9 - Journey Thoughts, Scripture Study | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Friday Funnies – Kids Say Funny Things in Church

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Lynn

Last week I posted some funny church signs.  Thought today I’d share some funny things kids say at church…out of the mouth of Ever-Laughing Lifebabes!  Enjoy!

Casey asked her Sunday School teacher a question: “If the people of Israel are Israelites, and the people of Canaan are Canaanites, are the people of Paris called Parasites?”

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A Sunday School teacher was telling her class the story of the Good Samaritan, in which a man was beaten, robbed and left for dead.  She described the situation in vivid detail so her students would catch the drama.  Then she asked the class, “If you saw a person lying on the roadside all wounded and bleeding, what would you do?   A thoughtful little girl broke the hushed silence, “I think I’d throw up!”

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The Sunday School teacher had just told her class the story of Mary, Joseph and Jesus fleeing into Egypt to escape Herod, and then she asked her students to draw a picture about the story.  She came to a little boy’s drawing and was slightly puzzled to see he had drawn a picture of an airplane so she asked him to explain.  Joey responded, “Well, this is the “Flight into Egypt”.  Here in the back of the plane are Mary, Joseph and Jesus.”

 The teacher pointed to the stick figure leaning out of the cockpit of the plane and asked, “Who is this person?”

“Oh,”  Joey responded, “That’s Pontius the Pilot!”

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One Sunday morning, the Pastor noticed little Alex was staring up at the large plaque that hung in the foyer of the church.  The plaque was covered with names and small American flags were mounted on either side of it.  The seven-year old had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the Pastor walked up, stood beside the boy, and said quietly, “Good morning, Alex.”

“Good morning, Pastor.” replied the young man, still focused on the plaque.  “Pastor McGhee, what is this?”  Alex asked.

“Well son, it’s a memorial to all the young men and women who died in the service.”

Soberly, they stood together, staring at the large plaque.  Little Alex’s voice was barely audible when he asked, “Which service, the 8:30 or the 11:00?”

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Finding one of her students making faces at others on the playground, Mrs. Smith stopped to gently reprove the child.  Smiling sweetly, the Sunday School teacher said, “Bobby, when I was a child, I was told that if I made ugly faces, it would freeze and I would stay like that.”

Bobby looked up and replied, “Well, Mrs. Smith, you can’t say you weren’t warned.”

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A little girl became restless as the preacher’s sermon dragged on and on.  Finally, she leaned over to her mother and whispered, “Mommy, if we give him the money now, will he let us go?”

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A six-year old was overheard reciting the Lord’s Prayer at a church service: “And forgive us our trash passes as we forgive those who passed trash against us.”

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The Sunday School teacher was carefully explaining the story of Elijah the Prophet and the false prophets of Baal.  She explained how Elijah had built the altar, put wood upon it, cut the steer in pieces and laid it upon the altar.  And then Elijah commanded the people of God to fill four barrels of water and pour it over the altar.  He had them do this four times.  “Now,” said the teacher, “can anyone in the class tell me why the Lord would have Elijah pour water over the steer on the altar?”

A little girl raised her hand and replied enthusiastically, “To make gravy!”

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A Sunday School teacher asked her preschool class as they were on their way to the church service, “And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?”

One bright little girl replied, “Because people are sleeping.”

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A mother was teaching her three-year old the Lord’s Prayer.  For several evenings at bedtime the little girl repeated the prayer after her mother.  One night she said she was ready to say it by herself.  The mother listened with pride as her child carefully enunciated each word, right up to the end of the prayer, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us some E-mail.  Amen.”

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Married for Life

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Lynn

Song of Solomon 2 16There is a tendency amongst young people today to try out relationships.  What I mean by that is rather than pray to the Lord to direct them to the right person to share their life with for life, they have a “hit and miss” attitude, going from relationship to relationship until somehow they stumble upon a “match” and may or may not make a less than “life-long” commitment then.

According to Statistics Canada:

“During the 50-year period from 1961 to 2011 which corresponded with the censuses of population, considerable social and economic changes occurred in Canada that influenced evolving family dynamics.

The early 1960s was near the end of the baby-boom period (1946 to 1965), when many people married at a fairly young age and had relatively large families. By the end of the 1960s, events such as the legalization of the birth control pill, the introduction of ‘no fault’ divorce, as well as the growing participation of women in higher education and in the paid labour force may have contributed to delayed family formation, smaller family size and an increased diversity of family structures.”

The alarming stats are that in 1961, married couples accounted for 91.6% of census families but by 2011, this proportion had declined to 67.0%. This decrease was mostly a result of the growth of common-law couples.  While the number of married couples rose 19.7% over the 30-year period between 1981 and 2011, the number of common-law couples more than quadrupled (+345.2%).  In 2011, lone-parent families represented 16.3% of all census families. This was almost double the share of 8.4% in 1961 when relatively more childbearing took place within marriage and divorce rates were lower.

“The predominant census family structure in 2011 was married couples, although they continued to decrease as a share of all families. In the 10-year period from 2001 to 2011, married couples dropped from 70.5% to 67.0% of all census families. In contrast, the proportion of census families that were common-law increased from 13.8% to 16.7% during the same period. For the first time in 2011, the number of common-law couples (1,567,910) surpassed the number of lone-parent families (1,527,840).” (Stats Canada)

“After a change to the Divorce Act in 1986 that allowed divorces after only one year of separation (instead of three years before), the total divorce rate in 1987 reached a high of 506 divorces per 1,000 marriages. This means that of marriages which took place in 1987, 50.6% were projected to end in divorce before their thirtieth anniversary.

Since the end of the 1980’s, the percentage has fluctuated between 35% and 42%. In 2008, 40.7% of marriages in Canada were projected to end in divorce before the thirtieth wedding anniversary.”

I’m not a statistician but just looking at the numbers would indicate that in Canada at least, marriage is fast becoming a failing institution.  There is no longer a mind-set amongst people to marry for life if at all.  They would rather live together rather than say “I do” and there is a walk-away mindset when a relationship does not work out.  Common-law “marriages” are on the rise, as are single-parent families, divorce rates (even amongst Christian couples) shows that nearly 50% of all marriages in Canada end in divorce before the thirtieth wedding anniversary.  That is staggering and so very, very sad!

According to the stats, my husband and I have bucked the trend.  We were married on June 2, 1979.  You do the math!

Someone asked what our “secret” was.  How do we stayed married for life?  Not sure it’s a secret at all, but I’ll share what I know:

1.  “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”  Proverbs 16:9  (That has been our life verse.  In everything, in every decision, every conversation, family activity, …EVERYTHING…God is in control.  HE directs our steps.  We are submissive to His leading.)

2.  There is a mutual respect and concern for one another.  It’s not a YOU – ME attitude, it’s WE together.  I don’t make a decision without sharing with my husband and vice versa.  We’re a team.  He respects my opinions and I respect his authority as the Spiritual leader of our home.  We compromise when we need to.  I’m his greatest fan, and he is my greatest fan.  We can always count on each other!

3.  We think of each other’s needs and well-being above our own.

4.  We both are well aware that our first love is God.  He is #1 in our hearts and in our home.  Yes, we love each other and love our children but God is first.  We do not usurp authority over God.  “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  Joshua 24:15

5.  We laugh…a lot.

6.  We share common goals, passions. likes and dislikes, but we also embrace one another’s differences.  He’s into cars, I’m into writing and books.  He retreats to his shop and muscle cars on stress-filled days and I’m okay with that.  I’ve learned more about cars and car parts than I ever thought I’d learn in all these years, and he’s read maybe three books.  That’s okay…at least one of those books was mine 🙂

7.  We take the covenant of marriage seriously.  God brought us together.  It’s a “death ’till us part” commitment.  “For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer.”

8.  I married my best friend.  He is my confident, my partner, my love, my future.

Happiness is being married to my best friend!

 

 

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