Article November 24, 2014 Issue

Walking through the valley

Irene Schanche Bowker

How trustingly the Psalmist said, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil” (Psalms 23:4). Wouldn’t everyone long to walk through the “valley” of any difficulty without fear, and to emerge with a greater understanding of God, divine Love, than before?

My mother had a meaningful experience praying with this psalm some years ago. As she was walking with a friend outside a store on a wintry Montana day, she slipped and fell where a patch of ice hadn’t been cleared. With considerable difficulty, she made her way upstairs to her second-story apartment.

In pain, she called a Christian Science practitioner, saying, “I can’t sit down, I can’t lie down, I can’t do anything.” The practitioner answered, referencing the proverbial valley described in the psalm: “Don’t lie down or sit down in the ‘valley.’ Walk right through it!”

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