Walking Through The Valley
June 15, 2020
By Marianna Meachen, Director of Care Ministries
Scripture passage: Psalm 23
Today I am exhausted–physically, mentally and emotionally. I feel as though I have walked through the valley of the shadow this week. Perhaps you, too, are exhausted. We have been walking through so much this spring. I have talked with, prayed with, and encouraged many people over those weeks, and it has been my privilege to do so. But today my well ran dry.
It has been a difficult week. So much hatred, division, and vitriol. Friends and colleagues at odds with one another, much less those who live in different parts of our country with completely different lives from different cultures and with no true understanding of the other. Everything has taken its toll, and so today I found myself in tears, crying over the dissension and discord that has overtaken our country, a country I love with all my heart. A collective people I love.
As I cried I thought of Jesus when He was in the Garden at Gethsemane. The Bible says as He prayed He began to be “sorrowful and troubled.” He began to weep as He thought about what lay before Him. Jesus said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” (Matthew 26:38)
I stood in the Garden of Gethsemane in Israel two years ago and tried to imagine what it felt like for Jesus to face what was coming. Today I felt as though I had a minute glimpse of what it felt like to be so overwhelmed with sorrow for the world. In my angst, something beautiful happened.
Leslie Paez, our office manager, let me talk for twenty minutes as she listened lovingly and nonjudgmentally about how I felt. I then sent a message to three people who were waiting on me to finish an assignment due that day. I was to let them know when I was done so they could finish their part. Instead I let them know I had nothing left to give. I was honest about my exhaustion and I apologized for my failure. Did they rail against me and tell me that the project could not be completed without my part? Did they ignore me, which would have made me feel worse?
No, Jenny Sung said, “Soul care, Marianna, for sure. Thank you for being honest, and I think your realization of that is very brave and wise. Take the time you need.” Rosella Shishido echoed that sentiment and said, “That wasn’t a failure, Marianna. We can cover for you.” David Chang texted me a prayer of blessing asking God to let “there be streams of living water” fill me and flow around me.
This is how we love and care for one another, lifting us when we are down, caring for us just as Jesus’ followers cleaned and bound His wounds after the crucifixion. Pastor Dan, Pastor Tim, and I spoke this week about the sadness we felt at what is happening in our country. Pastor Tim shared what his sophomore Algebra teacher, Mrs. Ward, from Corona Del Mar High School would say to him when he would raise his hand as when she was talking. “Mr. Shaw, put your hand down,” she would say. How could he listen to what she was saying when he was thinking about what he wanted to say?
May we all heed her advice. Let’s put our hands down and just listen. May we listen to one another before we speak with all of our attention focused on what the other has to say EVEN when we don’t understand it or agree with it. Only then can we begin to build relationships, learn to trust, and begin to be reconciled one with another.
And yes, I understand what I am saying sounds very simplistic, but we have to have a starting point. If we could open our ears and our hearts and as well be on our knees in prayer to the One who can truly change things and listen to His voice, we can be begin to heal our land.
The 23rd Psalm says, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for You are with me.” God is with us. Trust Him, go to Him for counsel, listen to Him first and then act with His love in your heart. He is the Way!
Prayer: Abba, precious and holy Father, we need You to heal us and heal our land. Give us Your peace. Let us listen to Your voice and act as Jesus would so our country might be healed. We ask that we move forward with every knee bowed and every tongue confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord! May we then walk in harmony and one accord. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, Amen.
Share this with a friend: