“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters…”
We typically think of this verse as something akin to a retreat. But the ‘pastures’ in Israel are very different than the ones we’re used to in the US. A pasture there is not a lush field of endless, green grass. It’s more like the picture above – desert sand sparsely populated with small plugs of grass. The visual here is much less about a spa-like retreat and more like just enough sustenance for the moment or the day.