The Lord is my Shepherd... - The Meadow's Edge

“My Psalm 23 Place”

By Shelley M. Reed

When living in NY for 2 years, back in 2022, I found this park about a mile away from our house that I would often visit to just walk and think. It wasn’t really extravagant. Just simple and quiet. The perfect, temporary respite when life became a bit “unglued”. In the back of the park, there was an area that I called my “Psalm 23 Place”. It contained a wooden bench facing a patch of forest and a small pond. The water featured a peaceful manmade fountain right in its middle. It was just “calm”. I often would sit on that bench and quote Psalm 23, and just feel God’s sweet presence showering me with a few minutes of rest and refuge..

Fast forward to our move to Texas a year and a half ago. I was wondering if I would ever find another “Psalm 23 Place.” In God’s gracious way, He provided again, but this time, it was in a place most unexpected! (See the photos provided!). We live in a new neighborhood and so trees are very hard to come by! Well, at least big, towering ones that provide shelter and shade. I think there may be only two. The Texas sun is blistering hot most of the year, so I didn’t think my neighborhood would have ever afforded me a place to find “green pastures” or “quiet waters”. Since I walk my puppies twice a day, there has not been many places in that neighborhood that I have not ventured.

Then came another scalding day, and I was walking the dogs around the large loop. I remember looking ahead down what seemed a never-ending patch of scorching heat when my little Poppy looked at me and seemed to say, “Mom, really?” Around the same instance I looked up into the sky and cried, “Lord, I just can’t do this either!” It was a metaphor of my life at that moment. In fact, right then, I desperately wanted to retreat away from every part of my life. Why? Physically, cancer’s “heat” had resurfaced, emotionally, its burn was taking a toll on my heart and mind, and spiritually, its purifying fire was testing my faith. As I finished that smoldering part of the journey, I turned the corner at the huge, towering rock wall that divides the houses in our neighborhood from a very busy thoroughfare. In between the rock wall and the highway is a sidewalk that runs its length. It is here that I found my new Psalm 23 place. I know, it doesn’t sound too quiet let alone serene. Traffic is always screaming. Hollering. Blaring. Construction is constantly running clamorous machinery. There is very little peace at least from that vantage point. But then my Shepherd showed up as He often does. It just so happened that even on that noisy highway, the state is required to preserve the enormous Texas live oak trees. They are exquisite and stunning. Their ragged bark and crooked branches extend almost horizontal. Their plume spreads in all directions. As I turned the corner out of my neighborhood and onto that cement pathway, I looked up! Reaching above me and in front of me were about ten of those beautiful, staggering trees dripping their shade and coolness over my head. The noise of vehicles disappeared behind their shadow, and it was there I declared…

My Lord and Father, you are my Shepherd. I never need to be in want.

Right now, honestly, I can’t, but I KNOW you can.

Life is hollering. It is screaming. It is so blistering hot, it hurts.

In this moment, I know I am sitting in the green pastures you have provided.

I am feeling your quiet waters restoring my anxious soul.

No matter what the future holds, you are leading me in paths of righteousness for your name’s sake alone.

Currently, I am walking in a valley that casts a shadow of death, but I choose not to fear any evil because your death on the cross made a way for life eternal. You conquered death! It has no sting. It has no victory.

Your rod protects me from the evil one.

Your staff comforts me and holds me close.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of each one of my enemies.

The enemy of fear. The enemy of discouragement. The enemy of worry.

You anoint my head with the oil of peace.

My cup truly does overflow with your strength and goodness.

Your steadfast love and grace will follow me all the days of my life.

And I WILL DWELL in the house of the Lord both NOW and for eternity!

Thank you for being my good shepherd. A faithful master. A loving Father. I can hold fast to you.

As your sheep, I hear your voice alone and no one else’s. May I follow with confidence and focus.

AMEN.

As I finished my walk and turned back into the neighborhood, I looked up again. And what did I see? The name of my street….VALOR TRAIL.

I can be brave. I can be confident. Why? Because I have a shepherd holding me tightly and leading me faithfully during this difficult time. He is my Psalm 23 God in an uncertain world.