I woke today with the words "how deep is your valley, how high is your sky’ infiltrating my mind, and it made me pause to truly contemplate their meaning and their significance in my life at this time.

I am in one of the valleys of my life, a journey which is giving me cause for reflection, is creating some angst, and is at the same time, giving me the privilege of truly knowing myself, my strengths, my goals, and my aspirations. Yes, indeed, it is a deep valley.

And then, as I looked through my bedroom window at the dawning of the day, I suddenly realized that I can also claim to be as high as the sky. How so?

As humans we have been given everything we need to live this earthly life by a merciful, generous, and very gracious God, but we are often so caught up in our ‘rituals, our ‘beliefs’ and our ‘goings on’ that we fail to truly appreciate the gifts given.

Pause for a moment, and consider the beauty of spring, parading its colours in the many shades of the rainbow. Remember the vivid blue of the skies, which can suddenly turn to grey, and just as quickly return to blue-and compare it to our quick-silver emotions-when we are touched by the kindness of a friend, a neighbour, a family member., or when we are feeling a lack of self-confidence, a feeling of aloneness, perhaps a feeling of betrayal from an unexpected source.

If we choose to remember that sunshine always follow the rain, we can bounce back and experience the joy every moment can bring into our lives.

My thoughts then changed to thoughts of summer, and the amazing energy this season seems to bring with it. I remembered the laughter of children, the happiness of lovers totally engrossed with each other, the quiet joy of parents and grand-parents as they watched their off-spring at play, or remembered the days of their own youth, and I knew in my heart that we always have this amazing energy to carry us through any dilemma we may be experiencing. The key to breakthrough is acceptance first, and then focused energy after to bring desired results.

Autumn was the next season that flitted through my mind, and I found myself being caught up in the brilliance of the colours of this season, of the preparation the earth makes for its ‘resting’ period, and I realized that we too, must go through a period of rest to re-assess, re-confirm, and re-direct our energies that will bring us to a better and more positive place in our lives, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and consciously.

And so I finally came to the season of winter, the season of rest. I paused for a bit, and wondered what this season meant to me. As I visualized the blankets of white snow as it lay on the ground, and the often grey skies above, I also remembered the starkness of the trees, stripped of their glory, but seemingly offering a prayer to the universe in thankfulness that for a while they could lay their burden down and just ‘be’.

And I thought that this is what we all really need to do….lay our burdens down, trust in the process, act on our beliefs with confidence, and know that we have been given all we need to succeed in this very temporary life.

I realized then that my valley is only as deep as I choose to make it and I understood that I have been given the gifts to enable me to live my life in a manner that is as high as the sky! It is my very good pleasure to tell you that you have also been given these amazing gifts! Will you pause, assess, accept, and fully use the gifts you have been given?