So it has come to me gentle reader that the problem with a balance beam is that, for me, it becomes a high wire all too quickly. With a balance beam, my arms and my core muscles are enough to keep me from falling, and if I do fall, the distance is not far and getting back up is not hard. With the high wire my own arms are not enough to keep balance. And the distance at stake is much further, I don't know if I have a net or not. So I need a balancing rod.
I am beginning to see where the 23rd Psalm has so much more meaning to me. It is a piece of scripture so well known that perhaps for some it has become trivial. To me though, it is a piece of life. He becomes my balancing rod. Read it again from this point of view, when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death; a place I feel I have passed through often enough, you need to fear no evil. The darkness will not remain. It is not the place that you dwell or live. The place that you lie down is the green pasture, it is full of life. The place that you dwell is the house of the Lord, Himself.
In the past I have tried to do the high wire by myself. I fell, I fell hard into darkness. This time though, even though darkness is near, my Shepherd prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies. They get to witness my celebration and victory. And it is not my demons who follow hard after me as a predator follows it's prey. But it is goodness and mercy. I won't mind being caught up by goodness and mercy.
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