The Valley of Vision

LORD, HIGH AND HOLY, MEEK AND LOWLY,

You have brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see You in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold Your glory.

Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter Your stars shine.
Let me find Your light in my darkness,
Your life in my death,
Your joy in my sorrow,
Your grace in my sin,
Your riches in my poverty
Your glory in my valley.

From The Valley of Vision, A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

A blog

A blog? Is that what you said? That word is neither in my hard copy Random House dictionary, nor my 2000 Microsoft Office one. A blog, you say...a way to communicate my thoughts to the world. Aw, a daunting task, to say the least, even though my "world" of readers might only consist of 2-7 people! (That's the number in my immediate family, one of which is my granddaughter, still several years away from being able to read, and the other--a grandson--not expected to arrive until January!) And who knows if any of them will have the time to "follow it"? (I think that's the modern jargon:-) But it sounds fun, the idea of writing a "post," and intriguing to think of having to think about what I really think. I don't know, though...it took me (and my 18-year-old daughter) awhile just to decide on a name for this blog, and it will probably be difficult for me to decide which color and font type to use for each post! I take whatever I do very seriously, you see--too seriously according to my son. But I do love to have fun, and I love to tell people about who and what I love. So, we'll see...