Lush, green, and verdant – that is what these afternoon or early evening thunder-showers are giving us.  Usually quite dry and yellow by this time of year, except for the places we must saturate regularly, Colorado is having one of the greenest summers.

And while the mountains stand tall and strong and speak to us of victory and grandeur as we long so very often for the exhileration of the mountaintop experience, a walk across the cool, wet grass this morning, breathing in the heavy, moist air reminded me that the ” valley experience” is so good for my soul.

Song of Solomon 6.11  “I went down to the garden…to see the verdure of the valley, to see whether the vine had budded and the pomegranites has bloomed…”

or

“Je suis descendue au jardin des noyers, Pour voir la verdure de la vallée, Pour voir si la vigne pousse, Si les grenadiers fleurissent.”  (Sometimes the Bible just sounds so good in a different language, thank-you www.biblegateway.com!)

I love the mountain top.  But I live in the valley, where “He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul” (Ps 23).

How green is my valley…J

BTW – several translations of the verse I referenced from the Song of Solomon actually say, “I went down to the garden of nuts…”  And that is where I live, too, among a bunch of nuts!