In "Other" Words…

“We are not built for the mountains and the dawns and aesthetic affinities, those are for moments of inspiration, that is all. We are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle.” ~ Oswald Chambers

I really need to pick quotes I don’t mind living (I say this tongue in check).

Mettle is defined as one’s disposition or temperament.

Well my disposition and temperament was put to the test this last week, and crescendoing (not sure if that is a word….) Friday night. I would like to live my life on the mountain top, I can see the beauty all around me, and the air is clearer and cleaner. I can see for miles ahead and I know where I am going.

I love to sing and I love to pray,Worship the Lord most every day.I go to the temple, and I just want to stay,To hide from the hustle of the world and its ways.**

But unfortunately the times on the mountain are only small reprieves for my time in the valley. We are built to live in the valley. And how we handle the valleys is where Christ develops us.

In the valley things get muddy, you can not see much more than your next footstep and the air around you can just plain stink. During this time we learn to have faith and trust in the Lord. We can not live out the great commission on the mountain top.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matt 28:18-20)

Last week just stunk for me, things broke, or did not go my way; I was in an emotional malaise, and I just could not see straight. Then on Friday night my youngest son did something that crashed my computer. Usually the human side of me would get really angry and ask him, “What were you doing?”

But I did not, I forgave right away. I was not happy mind you, but I did not get upset at my son. Through this frustration which did last until Sunday, I saw my oldest son reach out and show sympathy towards my situation. I had my youngest learn how to apologize. And my husband was very helpful in both cheering me up and late Sunday night after some tears of frustration; he found all the items I lost.

Even if he did not recover my stuff, I could see the good that came out of the bad. As Amy Grant says, worship is all we say and everything we do, and that is especially true in the valley. It is in the valley that we let Christ’s light shine. Non believers are not impressed when we display Christ during good times; they take notice when life is falling down around us and we display Christ.

I am not saying that worship is wrong,But worship is more than just singin’ some songs,’Cause it’s all that we say and everything that we do;It’s letting God’s Spirit live through you.

But I’ve got to come down From the mountain top To the people in the valley below;They’ll never know That they can go To the mountain of the Lord.**

**Amy Grant song “Mountain Top”

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