they make it

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.  As they pass through the Valley of Weeping they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.  They go from strength to strength until each appears before God in Zion. ~Psalm 84:5-6


It appears that this pilgrimage we have set our hearts on, this journey through the Valley of Weeping to the place of springs and pools, is, to some degree, what we make of it.  Notice in the text that it is not God who makes one turn into the other, it is us.  "They make it a place of springs," says the psalmist.  It is those who travel the road who get to choose.  They determine how they will travel, and the attitude or perspective they will take as they do so.  I suppose they could weep and weep and weep as they travel along this highway.  Or they can simply choose to make it a place of springs.  They can choose to see it for what it is; an opportunity to be made more and more into the image of God.  It all depends on how they (we) choose to travel.