To The Mountain Top

Keep running. You’re almost there! I coach myself on as I run uphill. I love running uphill, but it is the hardest part, and consequently, once the ground plateaus, I am also worn out. I slow down a bit to catch my breath and give myself a break. And soon enough, I’ll get to run downhill. I love running downhill too…it is undoubtedly easier to run downhill, though I’ve heard it is actually worse on our knees because of the greater impact on them. But yet that does not negate the fact that it is easier.  

I most often run through the Arboretum near our cottage. This time of year many of the spring-time lush plants seem to die off from the summer heat.  As I ran my usual path this evening, everything seemed dead and still, as though in a drought.

Likewise, in our spiritual journey, it is much easier to run downhill and sometimes we may go through seasons of spiritual drought. Fellow disciples of Jesus: the road we travel is not easy; it is narrow and steep. Undoubtedly, IT IS easier to run downhill, though the consequence is great. So remain in Him. Though we won’t always have mountain-top experiences in our faith, and though we may go through seasons of spiritual drought, we must keep pressing into Him by reading His word and praying continuously. It is easy to get spiritually lazy, and then easier to go downhill. But the only way to the mountain top is to keep running even through the rough terrain; the only way to experience the overflow of His Spirit is to remain faithful in watering your soul even through the drought.

We cannot lose heart. Friends, we cannot lose heart. Fight the good fight. Press on. Finish the race, though it may be uphill. We must continue on the path that is steep and narrow, but in the end, He is our great reward.

“Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it…Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father…Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.” -Matt. 7:14, 21, 24

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.” -1^st Cor. 9:24