05/13/2025
Life seems to be filled with ups and downs, highs and lows, peaks and valleys. Sometimes I feel close to God, and other times, I feel as spiritually dry as the Atacama Desert in Chile (the driest place on Earth).
There’s an old hymn that says, “Every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before. Every day with Jesus, I love him more and more.” Maybe that’s a true reflection of that hymn writer who probably wrote that song on a good day. But that hasn’t been my experience. Some days are sweet. Some days are … let’s just say … not so sweet. Some days I love Jesus more and more. And, unfortunately, if I’m honest, some days I struggle to love anyone.
C.S. Lewis refers to this as the Law of Undulation. Rather than living with constant growth where the trajectory of our lives is always up and to the right, we live in a never-ending cycle of peaks and valleys. This is true in all areas of life: work, marriage, friendships, health, energy, faith, and emotions. Up and down. Up and down. Up and down.
Lewis puts it like this, “It may surprise you to learn that in [God’s] efforts to get permanent possession of a soul, He relies on the valleys even more than on the peaks; some of His special favorites have gone through longer and deeper valleys than anyone else” (The Screwtape Letters, 38).
If you’re on a peak right now, be grateful. Celebrate. Give thanks to God. Use your joyful energy to love and serve others well. But don’t assume that your mountain-top experience will last forever, because it won’t (until heaven).
If you’re in a valley, be hopeful. Rest. Trust in God. You are not a spiritual failure; you are simply in a desert season, not unlike many of God’s faithful.
In Lincoln’s Melancholy, Joshua Shenk writes of Abraham Lincoln’s depressions being so severe at times that he was put under suicide watch by friends who refused to let him even carry a penknife. When Lincoln was thirty-two, he said he was “the most miserable man living.” Yet Shank proposes that it was because Lincoln sank so deeply in the valley that he rose so valiantly through humility and determination.
Humility and determination—essential ingredients for living in the valley. Whichever season you may be in right now, don’t overthink it or take your temperature too often. As John Ortberg says, “Don’t worry if growth is not happening on your timetable. We’re not in charge of peaks and valleys” (Steps, 273). We’re only in charge of a long obedience in the same direction.
“I have learned that in whatever situation I am, I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11-13).
