I walk in green pastures, meadows overflowing with wildflowers of various colors and heights. Blues and yellows and reds and oranges and purples and whites. In the distance row upon row of sunflowers. They beckon me forward.
There is a stillness in this wide open field with its gentle breeze, a cool breeze despite the heat of the day. This place is an oasis with its shade and shadows and bursts of color.
Bird songs carry on the air mingled with the gentle rustling of leaves and tall grasses and flower steps that sway to the sacred songs of this valley.
I hear a stream in the near distance and its flow across rocks makes its own song and gurgles an ancient chanting of praise, a voice raised to the Creator who placed each rock in its place and caused the waters to flow at a speed that creates an oasis of song and an invitation to pause, be still, listen.
Remove your sandals for this is indeed holy ground. This is a sacred space created for the sojourner who wanders the ancient paths with perseverance, even with disciplined diligence, and yet still loses her way.
But even so, even now, she is not alone here, for God is with her. He speaks in the gentle breeze and in the river’s song that flows with a time from distances past, distances the eye cannot see.
The river knows the Creator, carries His sacred rhythms along the rocks and the well-worn paths through the muddied riverbed.
It is all an invitation to pause, to see, to listen.
He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He bids me come when I am weary and heavy ladened with my cares and concerns that are all of this world. But He wants to show me His world, His kingdom.
He yearns for me to see His kingdom. It is an eternal kingdom. An upside down kingdom. A haven. A sanctuary of hope and one of rest. It whispers of joy and conveys delight.
Listen.
It is in the song trill of a bird you can hear but cannot see. It is in the breeze that caresses your cheek like a parent, wiping the hear from your eyes, the tears from you cheek, the fret from your brow so you can fall back to sleep.
He is here and his hand wipes the fear from your soul. As you close your eyes, He bids you stay, to sit a while. To be.
Can I just be?
Am I not meant to travel the path and complete the tasks that build in my mind. So many tasks to do. So much to do. And yet.
And yet God says, stop. Be still. Cease striving. And so I do. I heed His call because I have come to know His voice and to know His promises are true.
This valley is a lush place of beauty, not only shadows and fear, like the valleys I hear about too often. No, this is a valley of respite and beauty and rest. As I sit I realize the wonder of this space and recognize its songs and absorb its delights. The coolness under a tree. Toes in the slow-moving stream that has smoothed rough stones and now smooths away my worries, carrying my concerns and cares along with its rhythm and flow away so I am left with the sacred space of resting with my God here in the valley.
Here in the valley I can hear the ancient songs put into the world by the One who bids me come. Come and listen. Come and rest. Come and be.
And so I do.