Anatomy of the Journey – Valleys

Greetings Dear Reader,

As difficult as it seems to climb mountains, the descent into valleys can be a path of ease.  It is almost always easier to descend than to ascend.  I have had the joy of being in some magnificent valleys.  I have seen the splendor of rich verdant grass and trees.  I have walked among spring wildflowers.  I once sat for an hour watching a doe and her fawn forage.

Lilly of the Valley

The beauty of these things is the very nature of a green valley.  There are, however, dark valleys as well.  Abiding in them can be dangerous and debilitating.  We do not always choose to journey through dark valleys.  Sometimes they are thrust upon us.  In either case we must not tarry too long in any valley, dark or verdant.

There is succor even in the darkest valley.  Whether what grows there is a pure white lily or deadly nightshade a common thread exists.  No matter the colour or flavor of that which is in the valley, it is all life.  Both possess beauty and both are there by God's will.  Where there is life there is hope and so we journey onward.

Deadly Nightshade

Whether it be in valleys of darkness or valleys of respite, it is not the valley that is our destination.  No valley is our dwelling place.  No valley is our home.  Home is beyond where the path continues.  No matter the pain or joy into which we descend the final joy is found further along the path.  We must take in the joy or endure the darkness.  We must also keep moving.  It is in the journey that we are reminded that the way lies ever on.

 Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."