Laud the Valleys in Life

As I was walking through the valley
I thought I had to find a way
To get back up on top the mountain,
I knew not how to pray.
I thought that living in the valley
Was a weakness and a sin,
So I cried,"Lord, why must it be this way,
When will my real life begin?"
And He said

Child, I hear your crying,
I have been with you all the way.
You're here for a reason,
But you're not here to stay.
Accept this life down in the valley
Where you experience pain.
Then the mountaintop will be so much
More meaningful again.


I've had this song running around in my head for about a year now. It's one that I wrote on the Heritage Bible School Chorale in February 2004. I haven't been able to sit down and write a second verse to it yet. I have the melody on paper and the harmony in my head. Any ideas how to resolve the dilemma?

This song came to me as I was pondering the mindset of many Christians. Check that, at least our terminology. We tend to view valleys as bad things in life, the hard times. When we are struggling in our spiritual life, we call it a valley.

But is that so? The valleys are where we find the green meadows and still waters, shade trees, warm sun, and pleasant moments of rest. The mountaintops are snow-covered and cold, the air is thin, and the wind vicious. The descent from top to bottom is difficult at times, the pathway narrow, the mountain lions prevalent. Ditto the ascent, except harder because we are going up. But if we are following God's path for our lives, sometimes we are in the valley, sometimes the mountain, and the rest of the time--you got it!--we are in between. Doesn't Psalm 23 say,"Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil"?

But we complain because we like the view from up high. We like to feel "close to God," and "close to the stars." And then, as we take our eyes off God, we stumble, we fall, and we wonder why! As we look up from our fallen state, we feel lower than ever, we call it a valley, and we plead for the mountain.

All the farther to fall.