Oswald Chambers hits hard!

What's happening to April? That's what I want to know. It seems like it was winter just a week ago, and now we are almost mid spring! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the weather and don't wish for cold winter days. I just am finding it harder and harder to grab hold of the moments as time passes.

We had some good times the last few weeks, even with all the illnesses, home was a great place to be. Then Saturday we found out about some really discouraging things and I found myself going into the whole "Why, It shouldn't be like this, How will we survive" whiner mode. As I played into my pity party, God reminded me of something I had read recently. Oh, don't you love when He does that? :)

"We all have moments when we feel better than ever before, and we say, “I feel fit for anything; if only I could always be like this!” We are not meant to be. Those moments are moments of insight which we have to live up to even when we do not feel like it. Many of us are no good for the everyday world when we are not on the mountaintop...Pick yourself up by the back of the neck and shake off your fleshly laziness. Laziness can always be seen in our cravings for a mountaintop experience; all we talk about is our planning for our time on the mountain. We must learn to live in the ordinary “gray” day according to what we saw on the mountain."
That was from Oswald Chambers "My Utmost For His Highest" devotional for April 16th. (My book has it in the old style English which is just more fun to read, but I posted the quote from http://utmost.org/can-you-come-down-from-the-mountain/ if you are interested in a free, INCREDIBLE web devotional.)

(Did he really say shake off my lazy flesh? Ouch! How right he is though!)How often do I do that? Embrace the mountain top experiences that transform me, the moments that come EASY...and then struggle to relate it to my everyday life. I know I wish I could live in only the high moments, but that isn't how God grows us. I get caught up in the worry and the struggle, and forget that EVERY thing that happens in life is important. Sometimes the drudgery of parenting teens DAILY is more important than the moments that take our breath away. That moment when we are so pleased with something our teen says, does or displays, and we feel like our hearts are going to burst. Sure, those times are crucial to keeping our heads above water. But I want to do it well in ALL the moments. :) True of marriage, work, friendships, even daily Bible study too.

Alas- what a dilemma. To know the good I want to do, and yet epic fail at it a good portion of the time. But Mr. Chambers gives some insight in how to live in the dull days, and he says it beautifully: "Never allow a feeling which was stirred in the high hour (on the mountain) to evaporate. Don't put your mental feet on the (coffee table) and say- 'What a marvelous state of mind to be in!' Act immediately, do something, if only because you would rather NOT do it." (My Utmost For His Highest, page 122.)

Interesting idea. Grab the bull by the horns, right?

Gotta remember to look at the BIG picture.

Thank you for the reminder, good sir. And off I go- to do something.