In the valley

So the man and the woman came to the end of a bridge. It was a long bridge. There was a time of lingering at the end of the bridge before they stepped off. You might think they were surveying the land that they were about to enter into and they were .... or so she thought.

Do explorers ever really see what is waiting for them in the unexplored places? How can you know what's behind the next curve or boulder? Things jump out at you sometimes.

Some people are settlers at heart. Some people are pioneers. But to get where the settler is to settle I suppose there must be a time of pioneering and discovering. It's a good time for the pioneers until the settling and building of structures begins. Then there is the fittng of something expansive into boundaries.

The man and the woman of this journey are very definitely in the valley now and building has begun. The foundation of their life is still solid. So far no earthquake has been powerful enough to break this Rock. Two by fours are going up. The man has remarked more than once in his life that he loves to see a house in the stage of being built that it is all studs and rafters.

In the land of the intangibles what is a stud or a rafter?

Decisions.

Perhaps it's the decisions we make about the life we are going to live.

Hours - maybe days - maybe weeks of conversations. A subject taken out, held in their now open hands to be examined as thoroughly as they can with the help of Holy Spirit. Emotions do not hide themselves at such times as these.

A decision made. A stud goes up.

Joining with other people. People who have been distant now close. People thought lost now in sight.

Holding a relationship that before was touched and then left. A rafter is set in place.

She has watched the man, for many years a carpenter, build houses. She's watched the process of setting these things in place and securing them. Not simple in the natural act. Even less simple in the realms of the emotion and the spirit.

At times the process can push the boundaries toward despair. But then God comes in a quiet moment and says Hope. The lady is listening.

Isaiah 40....They that wait upon/hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up on wings as eagles. They will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.

He is teaching that lady - finally - to wait and not be afraid of hope.