The Valley of Vision

I find myself yet again struggling with a head cold.  My darling informed me last night that we could not play tennis with this cold.  After a couple of minutes of wondering to myself why he might possibly think I would ever play tennis, I caught up with his train of thought, promised not to pass my little virus back to him, and made a mental note that my thought process would be sluggish for the next couple of days.  The vaporizer is running in the background, and I have replaced perfume with the light fragrance of chamomile and honey.  After hearing myself declare my love to a box of Alka-Seltzer, I decided to pull out our copy of The Valley of Vision, which is a collection of Puritan prayers (which may actually be out of print now).  Bro. Blair (aka: my darling) read from it at church last night, so with it fresh on my mind I turned to the first prayer. 

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. 

While this is not scripture itself, it does offer words on which to reflect and a breath of fresh air in this self-centered world (even to one who has a stuffy nose).