In the valley of the shadow, darkness is the partner of light. Our journey through life is a journey into death. We shed old cells and form new neural pathways. We put way childish things and then we put away adult things. We grow strong and eventually grow weak. We go to sleep, wake up, and go back to sleep. One day even that will stop. We will just stop altogether.
It’s not fair. Or, it is the greatest fairness of all.
What comes next? What came before?
What difference does it make? What difference do I make?
I have no idea. No way to answer even one of those questions.
I just want to lie down in green pastures beside the still waters. I want to eat and drink and sleep in peace even knowing that world can be an evil place and that my enemies are present. I want that for other people, too.
I want to not want of those things.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Really? Can you prove it? I’m suspicious. In the Valley of the Shadow there is nothing but brilliance, blackness and borders. I suspect we loiter at the edges, equally afraid of the light and the dark.
On the eve of remembrance in the Valley of the Shadow, what are you afraid of?
