Peaks and Valleys: The Summation of Life

We're either ascending up a mountain, going down one, or sojourning through a valley on our way to another mountain. Nonetheless, we travail through these endless treks towards our destinies ensconced in God's love, protection and provision. We gauge our paths through hindsight, foresight and insight, knowing that others have traveled these paths. There is no danger or deterrent big or small, near or far that we cannot not overcome. We learn through experiences that we must prepare ourselves for the seasonal changes.

In our spring, we encounter the freshness and newness of life. We see life as a kaleidoscope of beautiful possibilities. We see things that were sown into our lives begin to bud and bloom. We sow seeds to our harvest. Old things begin to wash away. We learn how to climb mountains and make it appear effortlessly. We birth new ideas and concepts that propel us into our next season.


In our summer, things are energized and thriving. We go from thinking we can, to knowing we can. Our skies are clear and our vision so pristine. Things heat up, our potential energy transforms into kinetic energy. We have made it to the apex of the mountain. We rejoice in the end of a long journey and the rewards of our accomplishments. Once again, we sow seeds to our harvest. Although the peak experience is fulfilling within itself, it does not have the sustenance to maintain us forever. So we must sojourn to another place of provision.


In the fall, , we travel down the mountain side. The colors of life begin to change, the prosperous "greens" slowly turn to cautious "ambers" and halting "reds". Winds from all directions begin to cool things down that were once so hot. Nonetheless, during this season when all seems uncertain, we begin to harvest. We do not receive a harvest, we begin to go into the fields and reap it ourselves with our labor. We collect a cornucopia of provision, even things we didn't necessarily know we had sown or others sow on our behalf, Although things around us are changing, we have a certain fullness. We have been fully prepared to endure the Winter.



Winter, occur in the valleys. Everything seems to become so leveled and mundane. The simple things that once brought us joy seem to have been buried in the snow. We at times feel cold, hungry and lonely but we nourish off of our harvest and hope it lasts. Daylight shortens and we have to search in prolonged darkness for our joy. We search for courage and patience to endure the valley, to exit winter and not be cold and wounded from the feelings of obscurity. We learn to see, that although life around us seems to be barren and every turn we make leads to some uncertain death in some area of our life; things are not dead but hibernating and in a process of preparation called "new birth". Yet even through the season of winter, when your well runs dry and famine sets in, we still sow.



As long as the Earth remains seedtime and harvest, day and night, the seasons will never cease. Once again as the snow melts you find yourself at yet another to climb but in the freshness and newness of another Spring.