A Kindness and The Valley of Vision

I’m feeling a little spoiled this week.  Not even the fact that our 3 year old washing machine decided to die Monday night has deterred me from celebrating a small random act of kindness.  You’d like to hear about it and celebrate too, yes? {Oh, and there’s a giveaway at the bottom}

 

Last week I got a direct message on Twitter asking for my address.  Immediately, I thought it was spam but after a quick conversation realized it was not.  One of my long-time Twitter friends Joshua had seen something I’d posted online and wanted to send our family a gift.

I couldn’t for the life of me remember saying we needed or wanted anything in particular so I waited to see what might be coming.

I was all smiles when I opened the package Tuesday night to find two books–The Valley of Vision and Godspeed.

I don’t even remember where I heard about the book The Valley of Vision anymore. Somewhere in the social media world is all I recall.  The collection of Puritan prayers has been on my Amazon wish list longer than any of the others.

Upon opening, I did an ohhhhh… I immediately remembered someone recently posting a picture of The Valley of Vision on Instagram as one of four books they had purchased for the new year.  I had commented saying it was on my wish list and I needed to bite the bullet and get it.

Joshua hadn’t commented and I didn’t even know he had read it.  Actually, I’m still assuming that’s where he saw that I wanted it.  He had a copy sitting in his office and decided to pass it on as a family gift.  He also sent Godspeed, a book his pastor (and boss) had written.

Scott and I were so blessed to be recipients of this random act of kindness.  We agreed we wanted to read them together.  It was such a small gesture, but huge in my eyes.  Please don’t doubt the impact a small gesture can make on someone.

I cried the first three prayers I read.  All of these were written hundreds of years ago by Puritans—Christians that were very devoted to prayer and meditation.

I don’t know how much I can reprint here but I wanted to share snippets of a prayer I read this morning.

It’s entitled “Morning Dedication”

Let those around me see me living by the Spirit,
trampling the world underfoot,
unconformed to lying vanities,
transformed by a renewed mind,
clad in the entire armour of God,
shining as a never-dimmed light,
showing holiness in all my doings.

Let no evil this day soil my thoughts, words, hands.
May I travel miry paths with a life pure from spot or stain.

May I speak each word as if my last word,
and walk each step as my final one.
If my life should end today, let this be my best day.

 

Whew.  That last line is a doozy.

I don’t know if you can get the full effect of the prayer but there’s something about it that centers me.

I’m all for talking with God in conversation and just putting my concerns and worries out there as they are.  But, I admit, having these as a guided prayer, reminding me of the basics, if you will, and knowing they were written hundreds of years ago by Christians following the hard and narrow path has been quite a blessing.

Not only are they a gift in and of themselves, knowing they were given as a gift has made them all the more powerful.

So two things today—do that random act of kindness and consider buying The Valley of Vision.

And finally, in the spirit of passing on the random act of kindness, I’d like to pass on a copy of a book on my bookshelf that meant much to me—The Life You’ve Always Wanted by John Ortberg.  Just leave a comment and I’ll randomly (ha) pick a recipient.