| Sunny Side Up May31, 2006 �2006 Kathleen Gibson Through the Valley of the Shadow Recently I addressed a group of women on the topic of the grief, focusing on the verse in Psalm 23 where the writer says that God is with him, even in the shadowed valley of death. A sweet-faced woman, likely in her seventies, sat directly in front of me. Speakers see the emotions that play over the faces of their listeners. We notice the troubled faces; the interested and worried ones. We can even find the cheering section - our eyes go there often. This lady wasn't cheering. She cried almost the entire time I spoke. Cradled her face in her hands and sobbed. She reminded me of a cloud grown too heavy for the sky to support, which finally bursts open, releasing a calendar's worth of rain in a monumental deluge. Tears cascaded through her fingers, plopped on the table in front of her. Almost, I could hear them. That kind of crying can't be good for a body, I thought, alarmed. I wished someone sitting next to her would put their arm across her trembling shoulders, or at least gave them a squeeze to say, 'I'm here, I care.' No one did. Not wanting to draw attention to her, to make even more public her unfurling of what was clearly an intensely private pain, I carried on, praying her God's comfort. Tears trickled down other faces - mine too - during that lecture. Several wiped them away furtively, some tried for a while, then gave up and let them chase their mascara down their cheeks, tracing smudgy pathways. These were women like me, with memories like mine, pain like mine, feelings like mine. Guilt almost choked my words. I felt like a heedless lout. A house thief who riffles through one's most secret closets, strewing the contents about willy nilly. Who, I wondered, will pick up these jagged pieces of memory after I leave? A speaker is called to do many things. To prepare well. To relate. To interact with our listeners, point them to important resources. A Christian speaker is also called to listen to God's voice, to speak his truth. All of us would like to think there is someone - counselor, pastor, expert - wise enough, strong enough, sure enough to fit our pieces together again. But that's something no person, no matter their qualifications, is meant or able to do. We can help in some areas, but concerning those things that bring people to the brink of private breakdowns in public places we're woefully inadequate. I knew the answer to my question, even as I posed it. The truth is that ultimately only God, the walker of the darkest hills, the Shepherd who knows the path through our most treacherous valleys, can make us whole and lead us into light on the other side. It's why I choose, like the Psalmist, to follow him. And it's why I point others to him. Respond Home |
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