Mountains, Valleys, and Plateaus

Last summer we visited my cousins in Western Montana for my oldest cousin's graduation and while we were there, we decided to hike up a (somewhat) small mountain. When we were over half way up the mountain, my brother and dad decided to go on "just a little farther" and I was tired so I sat and looked out at the beautiful Montana mountains... it was stunning and there was a certain "high" from feeling on top of the world.

It was even more stunning when I ended up going farther up the trail (in search of my brother and dad who went farther then anticipated) and ended up at the top of the mountain. It truly was a "mountain top experience" and awe inspiring to look out from almost a mile above the city and see the mountains around me, which were even higher. It was humbling, yet almost empowering.

Our view from only a little ways up the mountain.

Going up the mountain was hard, especially as it got farther up and the air got thinner, but it was so worth it... the end result was amazing. Going down on the other hand was easy, very easy, but not as rewarding. I think it's the same way in our walk with Christ.

We can have these times where our relationship with God is just thriving. It's amazing and everything seems so awesome and inspiring. Our prayers and times in God's word seem so alive and fruitful. We are passionate and feel so alive with the reality of God's presence.

And then there are the times in the Valley. Things are hard, really hard, but that can make us to cry out to God even more. Our trials are often used to strengthen us, even when we look to questioning God, He often brings us to a point of being assured of His mercy and faithfulness.

In the book of Puritan prayers, The Valley of Vision the first prayer talks beautifully of this:

LORD, High and Holy, Meek and Lowly

Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,

Where I live in the depths but see in the heights;

Hemmed in by the mountains of sin I behold Thy glory.

And I can't leave out one more place, the plateau. For this tends to be the most common place and that's where I seem to be finding myself currently. Nothing is bad, but nothing seems so "good" either. It's a battle to just spend time in God's word and apathy is plentiful. The desire to just coast on by and be complacent is everywhere. This is the easiest place to be... yet very dangerous.

For the average person, the so-so, normal, apathetic times are plentiful and the mountain peak and valley times come along every once in awhile. Yet, we need to fight complacency and apathy... even though we don't always feel like it. We need to learn to keep on running the race when we really just want to walk casually along.

But we can't do it on our own strength. We need to rely on the work of Christ and what's He's done through the cross and His resurrection. In addition to relying on God's mercies, which the Bible tells us are new every morning.

And above all, no matter if you are on top of the mountain, in the valley, or on the plateau, we need to rely on Christ for our strength to go on. For the way up the mountain is hard, the valley dwelling is hard, and the plateau is hard... but we have a powerful God!

My brother Sam on top on the mountain.