please keep the smockmaison in your prayers. i will let you know His answer as soon as He moves. [this is not an urgent prayer for life and death -- more like a prayer for smocksanity. many thanks!]
smockmomma: May 2006 Archives
Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
They make it a spring;
The rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength;
Each one appears before God in Zion.[b]
8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
Give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
9 O God, behold our shield,
And look upon the face of Your anointed.
10 For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
The LORD will give grace and glory;
No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly.
studying psalm 84, two things strike me in this passage about ezekiel's valley of dry bones, also interpreted as the valley of tears. the first is that we are called to pass through it (verse 5 [pilgrimage] and 6). and the second is that it takes great humilty and trust in God (see one of mamaT's favorite passages in verse 10). so far, i've yet to meet anyone who hasn't been called to pass through their own valley of dry bones (it wasn't until i became a catholic that i heard the term referred to as a sort of dark night or night of the soul). call it what you like, i've learned that if i talk about it, even in very vague terms, everyone i know has gone through this valley in one form or another. what's erie is that the experiences are so very personal for what seems like such a universal experience. but isn't that the beauty of catholicism? we know that even in the midst of excruciatingly lonely experiences, we are never alone.
for the first time ever in my own personal spiritual struggle, i have been experiencing the truly dry portion of the experience; and it wasn't until i found out yesterday that the word "baca" is also interpreted as "tears" that everything started to make sense. of course, this may mean nothing to you since it is so personal, but for me this was a huge epiphany! and, i'm sharing just in case someone else stumbles across this site. just remember, His anger is but for a moment,His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. psalm 30.5
so last sunday night smockdaddy calls me and says, "i'm about to make an offer on a house."
i said, "what! you can't put an offer on a house i haven't even seen."
"okay. then put the kids in the car and come look at this house so i can make an offer."
we close on the 25th. i have a week to pack up a house of eight, lived in for six years. any prayers or moving advice will be appreciated. thanks!
"to love abundantly is to live abundantly, and to love forever is to live forever."
~ henry drummond
wow. i had no idea that the dad on diff'rent strokes was so deep.
