SHADOW OF DEATH



REFLECTION ON PSALM 23

Born in the valley of the shadow of death
Live in the valley of the shadow of death
Walk in the valley of the shadow of death

Always looming
Always present
Possibility and fact
Consistent shadow

I walk in this valley
Placed in this valley
To learn, to grow, to become
To know, to love, to serve
The Creator of this valley.


The Creator of this valley and
All that is beyond this valley 
Calls me into relationship

My Creator, God of the Universe,
Bigger than the valley 
Bigger than all the shadows
Cares enough to enter into my life.

Relationship with the Trinity,
God the Father,
Jesus Christ the Son,
God the Holy Spirit 
Intense light shimmering in the shadows.

Even though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil; for God is with me.

Guiding me through the valley
Anointing me with oil
My cup overflows

God dwells within me as I walk through this valley 
Moving towards dwelling within God for eternity. 

Poem by Sara Fontana
Paintings by Kenneth Petro,
Sara's brother-in-law,
who walked in this valley
from 1956 to 2020


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Imperfect Metaphor

Image
MY RELATIONSHIP WITH MY ADULT CHILDREN... "... in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19) I believe in a loving God. A God who is parent, sibling and friend – Father, Son & Holy Spirit - rolled into one. In an imperfect way my relationship with my own adult children is a metaphor for my relationship with God.  GOD THE PARENT:  In my children’s life experience, I am the one who gave birth to them. When I held each one of them for the first time, I loved them completely. They did nothing to earn that love, my love was freely given to them. Like God, the parent, I rejoiced in their birth. I have been there holding them, caring for them, loving them, disciplining them, guiding them, listening to them, waiting for them to come home, delighting in time spent together. When they were children, my primary role was as mother. There were times when they were angry with me because, out of love, I disciplined them working to instill an interna
Read more

A NEW STYLE OF PRAYER...

Image
WHAT I WANT..... I woke up at 4am with my friend who is battling leukemia on my mind.  Yes, another friend who has cancer. This horrible disease which ravages peoples bodies.  Some battle it and continue living here on earth while some battle it and it leads them into the next stage of eternal life.  I just lay in bed with my eyes closed, present to the thoughts racing through my brain.  How do I pray?   Do I ask for what I want? … I want her to be 100% healed of the cancer right now and keep on living here on earth!   Then my mind moves to the pious thought  "not my will but yours be done, Lord.” But don’t I want what God wants?  Does God want Donna to suffer and die?  Why do we even have suffering on earth?   My mind races and races through all these questions.  Then an image of our dog, Mac, comes to mind.  Mac is a medium sized terrier who enthusiastically wakes up every morning.  He literally jumps up and down excited about the possibilities of going for a wal
Read more