There's no method of study that compares with labor. Really. There I was, in pain that exponentially exceeded anything I'd experienced to that point (or since -- my second labor was cake), feeling like the world was caving in on me every 2 minutes, desperate for some kind of rescue, saying over and over again, "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life."

Someone posted a discussion of this Psalm on Facebook and it brought me back to something like a loving relationship that I have with it. I love it like an old friend.

When I look at it now I can see that these words that roll off so easily are completely the opposite of so much of the world around us, just like they were for me in labor. The pain, the devastation, the grief that surrounds us is almost unbearable and yet we say that we lack nothing, that goodness and mercy follow us, that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

The contrast, I think, is exactly why this Psalm has become so dear to me. It's what it means to be (as my family called it when I was young) a Believer. One who believes. It's the root of my faith: a God who follows me with a love that knows no bounds, a mercy that is new every morning, a goodness that isn't tainted by my error, a power that goes deeper than the deepest hurt the world has ever known.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.