Archives for May 6, 2014

Devotion

My mother was the story teller in our family. Once a year she would take us on a pilgrimage to our family cemetery on the gravel road near our farm homestead. The cemetery was our playground during our growing up years. Behind the tombstones of this cemetery we tried to smoke our first cigar and plotted to steal our first kiss. As we strolled among the tombstone she talked. We passed by the graves of great-grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and neighbors. She told their stories and we listened. Then we came to my father's grave and heard his stories. It was like being surrounded by a cloud of witnesses—all the blessed—with their funny, sad, inspirational, and faithful stories. And as we walked along we were learning who we were and whose we were. It felt like we were standing ankle deep in the soil and we would never get the dirt off our feet again.

Psalm 23 is like that. "The Lord is my shepherd ... even though I walk through the darkest valley I fear no evil for you are with me; your rod and your staff—they comfort me." We stand ankle deep in the presence of the shepherd. We most often turn to Psalm 23 in times of crisis—death, struggles and times of the need for comfort in our lives. Its words have become like a "cloud of witnesses" for us in our lives of faith. We are reminded over and over of who we are and whose we are. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life."