Enjoying God in the Valley

Chapter ten of Jan Johnson's book Enjoying the Presence of God is titled Enjoying God Between the Moments. I like the analogy of mountain tops and valleys better. Here's why. Have you ever seen the black and white movie Sergeant York? In the movie Alvin York is an east Tennessee boy, living up in the mountains, and trying to scratch out a living as a farmer. It's tough to be a farmer in the mountains. There are rocks and boulders everywhere, and they all have to be dug up to have enough dirt to plant crops. Bottom land is down in the valley. The land there has fewer boulders and is rich and fertile. I like this example because it reminds me of Jesus's journey up on a mountain side with Peter, James and John. There they saw Jesus' appearance was transfigured. Peter, James and John like a lot of Christians wanted to set up tents on the mountain side and stay there in that heavenly presence. However, life doesn't work that way. We are not called to live on mountain tops of spiritual euphoria. Through these close interactions with the Spirit we can be moved to do all kinds of things for the kingdom. However, there is not enough to support us up on the mountain top. When we travel back down into the valley it is harder to remember the mountain top experiences. Jan Johnson encourages us to establish a routine of prayer throughout the day to help us stay the course when we feel spiritually dry. That is important because like the disciples were called to live lives of service down in the valley with the mountain top experience in their hearts. Our goal is to live in as close a relationship to the Father, through Jesus Christ the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit as we can. The Spirit is a wild duck, and may call us up the mountain, or down to the river; it may seem very far from us, but it is never really very far away.  When we enter those places of spiritual thirst it is important to cling to our spiritual routines and to remember the mountain top experience in our hearts.