s a v o r i n g
grace-filled moments

Our family moved into our big old house thirty years ago.

In those years, we have received spooky night visitors looking for hospitality.

These scary outsiders did not receive an invitation nor did they knock on the door, asking for entrance.

No.

Usually, they squeezed their way in when it was dark and we were asleep in our beds.

Somewhere between silver and gold shines this lovely deep blue stone, celebrating 45 years of busy careers, raising children, celebrating weddings, inviting cherished in-laws, rejoicing over five dear grandchildren, burying our parents, many mission trips, growing in our faith, and finding Jesus to be so important. Now, in our retired years, we find ourselves serving others and giving back to the life we have truly cherished.

Do you have days when you feel like you just aren’t enough?

Maybe you think you aren’t rich enough, organized enough, smart enough, thin enough, or pretty enough. Or perhaps you’re worried that you don’t have enough of what it takes to accomplish the work you’ve been asked to do.

And so you pray, God, may I have more, please?

Striving for more seems to be a part of the American Dream!

I should be able to work hard, make more money, get more stuff…and ultimately feel “more” happy.

But I wonder, Is that how it really works?

King David wrote in Psalm 8:3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You set in place…

David’s “stopping to consider,” led him to deeper questions. He wondered, What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?

I guess he wondered why God would care for people when the universe was so magnificent. I wonder that myself sometimes.

After learning that my name means “dweller in the valley,” I head out to walk my usual early morning route, up the street from my house and into our neighborhood city park.

Alone today, I can notice my thoughts and surroundings attentively.

The sun is already up, bright and mid-horizon with a cloudless sky overhead and my mind is full of “dweller in the valley” thoughts.

What might it be like to dwell in a valley?