What do you do when you find yourself straddling the line between the incline of a hill and the decline into a valley? How do you handle uncertainty? We flawed humans, often without fail, have labeled the hills of life as good and the valleys as bad. Think of all the phrases we have to describe these extremes: a mountaintop experience, peak performance, downtrodden, down in the depths, rock bottom, depths of despair, valley of the shadow of death, and the list goes on.
During a recent, routine car ride, my 11-year-old daughter chimed from the back seat, “Mom, some of the best advice you’ve given me about the hills and valleys of life is that you can’t appreciate one without the other.” First of all, I wanted to stop the car right there and do a victory dance to celebrate this small parenting win! Second and more seriously, though, my daughter’s comment put the advice right back into my own head. Have I been embracing both the hills and the valleys lately?
If we truly can’t appreciate the “ups” unless we’ve been through some “downs,” then why must we label the “downs” as bad? In all honesty, the times when my personal growth, faith life, and personal relationships have developed the most have been when I’m struggling my way through challenges or grief. That’s good. The times when I’m most aware of God’s presence, goodness, and faithfulness to me are during the difficult days when I feel him hold me up. That’s good. The times when I’m most likely to run to God in prayer and seek him in his Word are when I repent of my selfish desire to take on the world by myself and confess how much I need him. That’s good.
See all of those amazing outcomes? They are treasures for you just waiting to be discovered in the valleys of life. They are good, and so is our gracious God!
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