The Valley of Vision

   Have you heard of the Valley of Vision? Other than the place where you fall on your face to encounter the deepest heart of God in order to see one's life and one's Savior more clearly...it is the name of a collection of prayers written a couple of centuries ago. By Puritans of all things. Now I am definitely not a Puritan, nor would I ever aspire to be. But there is something about these poems/prayers/meditations that inspires me. And leaves me weak in the knees. In a good way.
   So I am falling before your throne today, Sweet Lord, lifting my heart with those who have gone before me to whisper these words with an urgency that resonates like a drumbeat within me.

Lord, High and Holy, Meek and Lowly,

Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,

where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;

hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy 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 thy stars shine;

Let me find thy light in my darkness,

thy life in my death,

thy joy in my sorrow,

thy grace in my sin,

thy riches in my poverty,

thy glory in my valley.

See what I mean?