The Valley

The Valley. 

It extends long, dark, and deep.  Thick brambles and underbrush impede the passing.  Heavy dew drips from intense green foliage which brushes against the sojourner.  Thorns scratch against the skin, stinging deeply.  An occasional breath of sweet aroma from the blooming wild rose. 

This is where I am now. 

Walking…. rather plodding…. through the deepest valley I’ve ever traversed.  It is hard.  Steep.  Slippery. Mucky.  Nauseating.  Exhausting to the bone. Filled with tears.

The way is now and again interrupted with the singing chorus of tree frogs and song birds.  But mostly it is quiet. Loudly quiet. Oh so quiet.

Few folks walk this road with another.  It is simply too hard.  Too painful.  Too… well, uncomfortable.  The Road which leads into the Valley is unwelcoming.  Those who must walk the bumpy road into the dark are accompanied by few.  A few very brave souls.

Those that walk along side another in the Valley are extraordinary.  The dark is foreboding.  The exit….if there is an exit… is aloof.  Hidden behind misty terrain.  Yet, a few… a very few…. attempt to journey the Valley with another.

Time blurs.  For me, stepping cautiously ahead, feeling the weakness, the fragility, the instability of the journey.... it is ever present for me.  Yet not so much for others.  And I shouldn't expect it to be.  They have their own journey to travel.  Their road turned directions before the steep sides of this valley pulled me downward.  Perhaps I will see them again come the climb at the other end.

Now I cling to the One who is never fearful of the Valley.  He has walked it before.

He knows the way.

Today’s Journey Joys: Warmth inside the hoop house, blueberry bells blooming, Sheila the NP with empathy, leftover Noodles, long naps in the middle of the day,  Evening of Worship for dad and son, aromatic lilacs, strawberriy flowers white and cheery, medicines for infection.