This watercolor was painted by Debbie
Cunningham. I’m not sure what her vision
for the painting was, but when I saw it, I immediately thought of the “valley
of the shadow of death” from Psalm 23.
There is something about that stark, skeletal tree and solitary path
that brought the thought to my mind.
Debbie passed through the “valley of the shadow of death” in the spring of 2021 as she lived with brain cancer and faced her impending earthly death. The shadow of her mortality and disease must have looked a bit like that lonely, dark tree. But, I also know that Debbie had a positive spirit about her journey because her Shepherd Jesus walked beside her and “restored her soul.”
With the Psalmist, Debbie was able to
say, “My cup runs over. Surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life…” Indeed, her cup did run over and she enjoyed
a life well-lived and well-loved.
When Debbie’s time came to leave this
life, I imagine her continuing down the path and slipping past the gate of
death as she did on June 20, always with a view of green mountains in the
distance, verdant with the hope of “something more.”
Psalm 23 ends with the promise of
something much more: “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” What a beautiful ending to a life well-lived
for God – a life that is truly just beginning!
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