Armies in valleys are vulnerable. The valleys of our lives and faith bring tenderness. We are pelted with slander from neighbors, barraged with news of war and famine, battling hunger and poverty, and oppressed by systems of injustice. We yearn for the safety of the mountains above and are reassured that God’s vision for the world contains no valleys, no places of hardship and suffering, and no inequity for God’s people. God yearns for us all to reach that mountaintop and, when we cannot reach it on our own, mercifully levels the valley’s depths.
-Lindsay Barrett-Adler