Psalm 88

For my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draws near to Sheol.
I am counted among those who go down to the Pit;
I am like those who have no help,
like those forsaken among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
for they are cut off from your hand.

This is not my current condition, but I identify with the psalmist.

At least five times in my life I have felt forsaken and entirely lost.

I carry the wounds of these times, I will suddenly awake drenched in sweat each scar sharp in painful memory.

In each case the path that brought me out of the pit has been unexpected, entirely beyond prediction. Even in retrospect I am amazed to have found it and how it brought me out.

Each path has had its own character: one narrow, another broad; one dark and itself frightening, another dappled in light beside a glittering cascade of water; two of the paths have been straight and steep, three have been so maze-like and winding that I was long unaware of even being on an ascending path.

What all five paths have shared is the companionship of fellow-travelers who helped me find and continue on the path and the opportunity for co-creation. It is through our relationships and our creating that pits are filled and mountains are climbed.

Psalm 88