Friday, January 3, 2020. 11:35 PM.
“The Lady of the Valley”
Chapter Four
Lily was on her way back home, or so she thought; but something happened halfway up the hill — her thoughts. They became strong. They seemed not to be her own. And yet, they didn’t frighten her.
Thought: “Lily, you ought not to go back to the other side of the hill. Remember Lot’s wife? [Genesis 19:23-26]. And remember the title of Tom Wolfe’s book: “You Can’t Go Home Again.” And remember, in the Scriptures, concerning Abraham and his son Isaac, it is written: “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” [Genesis 22:14. NIV]. Your life is here on this side of the mountain. It’s your choice; but the godly way for you is on the living rock side, now. Go back to Stone; or else go back to Loneliness.”
Lily: “Lord, I hardly know this man. I only just met him, today. What will I say to him if I return to him?”
Lord: “Do not concern yourself with your words. It will be given to you at that moment in Time what to say and how to speak to him. The Holy Spirit will be with your spirit. Just follow His leadership. He will show you, just as I AM showing you now.”
So, Lily turned around and walked down the hill on the living rock side, in faith and in trust in the Living God. She did not know where she would go or where she would sleep that night. She simply trusted that God would provide for her every need.
Stoned Love Lyrics The Supremes
“When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’ Another disciple said to him, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ But Jesus told him, ‘Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.’” -Matthew 8:18-22. NIV.
When Lily reached the bottom of the hill she stopped, not knowing which way to turn. And in her heart she searched for direction. And the thought that came to her was, “When you don’t know which way to turn, Go Straight Ahead.” So, she did just that . . . turning neither left nor right, she simply went forward one step at a time. A Psalm came to her mind: “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.” [Psalm 23:1]. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” [23:4]. And then, this one: “The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” [Psalm 118:6]. In her focus on the LORD she forgot about Stone. And as she continued to walk, she came upon a rock and decided to sit there and rest a while. So that is what she did. She recalled the bottle of spring water she had enjoyed with a sandwich earlier; but, she had neither with her now. As she continued to sit there taking refuge in the name of the LORD, she heard a rustling sound in the brambles in front of her. She wondered what was coming. And then, out of those brambles a man came forth. He was carrying a bag. It was Stone. In the sudden joy of seeing her friend, she jumped off the rock and ran to him. “Stone, I’m so glad to see you again!”
Stone: “Lily? I thought you went back to the other side of the mountain!”
Lily: “Well, I started to do so; but when I got halfway up the hill the LORD spoke to my heart and turned me back this way.”
Stone: “I’m so glad to see you again, Lily.”
Lily: “What were you doing in that shrubbery, Stone?”
Stone: “I was taking a short cut home after buying a few things at the country store.”
Lily: “What did you buy?”
Stone: “A large sandwich and two bottles of spring water. Are you hungry, Lily?”
Lily: “Yes, I AM!”
Stone: “Why don’t we sit down here on this rock and take in this food and water?”
Lily: “I’d love to do that with you, Stone.”
So, Lily and Stone sat down there on the rock and enjoyed their food and water together.
Lily: “Stone, I’ve been wondering what your full name is.”
Stone: “Well, about that, I have a confession to make, Lily. Stone is actually my middle name.”
Lily: “Then what is your first name?”
Stone: “My first name is John.”
Lily: “Well, John Stone, what is your last name?”
Stone: “My last name is Walton.”
Lily: “So, John Stone Walton is your actual full name?”
John: “Yes.”
Lily: “And what is the name of this mountain beside Living Rock Lake?”
John: “Well, all the land around here was owned by our grandfather; so, it’s known as Walton Mountain by folks around here.”
Lily: “That is so sweet, John. When I was young I used to watch a TV show about a family called “The Waltons.” And one of the family was named John Boy. And he was a writer.”
John: “What was that family like, Lily?’
Lily: “It was a close-knit family. There was grandpa and grandma and John Boy’s parents; and all his brothers and sisters; and their neighbors. I think they were living during the Depression; but, they always got by and had enough to survive.”
John: “It sounds like a wholesome family show.”
Lily: “It really was. And it helped me survive, too – by watching that show every week; and also reading stories.”
Stone: “What stories did you enjoy reading, Lily?”
Lily: “Well, I started out reading children’s mystery stories, like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys; and then I began reading Sherlock Holmes stories; and Charles Dickens; and then, Thomas Hardy’s novel: “The Return of the Native.”
Stone: “So you find comfort in literature?”
Lily: “Yes, I do. John, are you related to The Waltons?”
John: “Yes, John Boy Walton is my grandfather. He passed on just a few years ago.”
Lily: “And do you write as your grandfather did, John?”
John: “Yes.”
Lily: “What is your writing like, John?”
John: “It’s imaginary.”
Lily: “And what kinds of things do you imagine?”
John: “I imagine conversations between people.”
Lily: “That reminds me of Plato’s Republic – also known as “The Dialogues of Plato.” Plato wrote about someone named Socrates; and his conversations with his neighbors in the land of Greece, thousands of years ago.”
John: “That was real – rather than imaginary. Socrates really lived. And, sadly, his neighbors couldn’t tolerate his teaching them to think more reasonably than they were accustomed to doing. Eventually, they made him drink hemlock.”
Lily: “John? May I call you, John Boy? You remind me so much of him . . . As a girl watching that program, I wanted to live on Walton’s Mountain and meet John Boy and be his girlfriend. I wanted to talk with him – just as we are talking now.”
John: “And what did you imagine you’d like to say to him?”
Lily: “I imagined saying to him: “I love you, John Boy.”
John: “I imagine John Boy would have been very happy to hear you say that to him, Lily.”
Lily: “John Stone Walton, I love you, John Boy.”
John: “I love you, too, Lily.”
The Waltons Season 1 intro
Lily: “Now what do we do, John Boy?”
John: “Do you write, Lily?”
Lily: “No, not much, John Boy.”
John: “What do you like to do besides reading, then?”
Lily: “I like to think about what I read.”
John: “Maybe that’s what Socrates and Plato wanted folks to do: think about what they read and what they heard. And what reading are you thinking about now, Lily?”
Lily: “Did you ever read Walt Whitman’s ‘Leaves of Grass,’ John Boy?”
John: “I read only a little of it, actually.”
Lily: “Well, he wrote: “I sing the body electric.” And that’s what I’m thinking about, now, John Boy, the body electric.”
John: “And what does that mean, Lily, ‘the body electric’?”
Lily: “Well, I’m wondering if a kiss between us would tell us more about what it means than all the words in all the books in all the world, John Boy.”
“Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” [the last verse in The Gospel According to John. John 21:25. ESV Study Bible].
John: “Oh . . . And what if a kiss with you, Lily, did electrify us? What if it fundamentally changed us into something entirely new?”
Lily: “Then we’d truly have something to sing about, I suppose.” Then Lily looked intently into John Boy’s eyes and said to him: “There’s only one way to find out, John Boy. Do you have the courage to go with me where you’ve never gone before, John Stone, into the mystery of God, Who is Love and Light and Spirit – as the Scriptures tell us? Will you come with me “where no man has gone before” (1) — into “The Power of Love” (2) and allow His Light and His Spirit and His Joy to fill our hearts to overflowing? Would you like to be “born again” (3) with me, John Boy? Would you like to be like you’ve never been before — “in newness of life”? (4) Would you like to realize the true meaning of ‘This Magic Moment’ (5)?
John Stone: “Yes, lady of the valley.”
The Rose
“I am a rose of Sharon,
A lily of the valleys.
As a lily among brambles,
So is my love among the young women.”
-Song of Solomon 2:1, 2. ESV Study Bible.
The Power Of Love – Helene Fischer (with lyrics)
The Shadows – The Power Of Love with lyrics – love song
Whitney Houston: One Moment In Time [Lyrics] – Watch in HD
John: “That’s a very beautiful, heart-touching song, Lily; however . . . “
Lily: “However what, John?”
John: “The song seems to be making the point that we have to try so hard to be there, to be in that one moment in time.”
Lily: “You don’t believe in making a tremendous effort, John, like climbing Mount Everest, to be at the top of the world, or jumping out of a plane to feel the exhilaration and excitement of it all?”
John: “I believe we have to forget self and be so completely with God, trusting in Him, that His Spirit is allowed to overshadow us – like when the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and the baby Jesus began to live in her; except that, with us, it will be His Spirit rather than His body that abides with us and in us, on the throne of our heart; so that He is Sovereign over us, as a king is sovereign over his kingdom. ”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
“The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.’” -Luke 1:34, 35. NIV.
Lily: “I don’t really know what would happen if we kiss, John. I’d really like to find out, though – like an experiment. We try it – and then see what the result is. May I kiss you, John Boy?”
John Boy: “Yes, Lily, you may kiss me.”
Lily: “Hold on, John Boy. I’m going to kiss you with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my mind and all my strength. Are you ready?”
John Boy: “So help me, Lord God. I’m ready, Lily.”
And just then, the Lord spoke to Lily. “Wait, Lily.” So, Lily waited on the Lord.
Lily: “John Boy, the Lord just spoke to my heart, to wait.”
John Boy: “Why?”
Lily: “I don’t know yet; but I must wait for the Lord. We must wait for the Lord.”
Lily: “The Lord’s Holy Spirit is bringing a Scripture to mind, John Boy.”
John Boy: “What Scripture, Lily?”
Lily: “This Scripture, John Boy: “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” -Matthew 19:4-6. NIV.
John Boy: “What does that mean for us, Lily?”
Lily: “That Scripture is about marriage.”
John Boy: “Do you believe that God wants us to be married before we kiss?”
Lily: “Yes.”
John Boy: “Let us be married, then.”
Lily: “You want to be my husband, John Boy?”
John Boy: “Yes, I do, Lily.”
Lily: “You want me to be your wife, John Boy, for as long as we both shall live?”
John Boy: “Yes, Lily, I do.”
The Lord: “Lily, you may now kiss your husband. John, you may now kiss your wife.”
And Lily rested her hands upon John Boy’s shoulders and kissed him with all her might for one very long moment in time; for one very magical and spiritual moment.
Can’t help falling in love with you. By: :Elvis Presley with Lyrics.
Nat King Cole – When I Fall In Love (with lyrics)
And John Boy put his arms around his wife and held her. And Lily put her arms around her husband and held him as they continued to kiss. And the Lord God blessed them. And so, their marriage was blessed. And God saw that it was good. And He filled their hearts with His Love and His Light and His Spirit.
THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE – ROBERTA FLACK
“ . . . in the name of the Lord Jesus thanks be to God the Father through him.”
-Colossians 3:17b.
(1) quoted from the introduction to the original Star Trek television series of the late 1960s.
(2) from the title of the song “The Power of Love”
(3) from the words of Jesus, the Son of God, spoken to Nicodemus, as recorded for us in John 3:3. KJV.
(4) from Romans 6:4 where it is written: “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
(4) and in Romans 7:6 it is written: “But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”
(5) The title of the song: “This Magic Moment”
Magic Moment – The Drifters – with lyrics
Stoney – Lobo
Stoney (with Lyrics), Lobo
Mark's Imaginings 